| Chapter 7 |
| 1 | Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon,
and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the
well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of
them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. |
|
2 | And the LORD said unto
Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the
Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying,
Mine own hand hath saved me. |
|
3 | Now therefore go to, proclaim in the
ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and
depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two
thousand; and there remained ten thousand. |
|
4 | And the LORD said unto
Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will
try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This
shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto
thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. |
| 5 | So he
brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every
one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou
set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to
drink. |
| 6 |
And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to
their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down
upon their knees to drink water. |
| 7 | And the LORD said unto Gideon,
By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the
Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his
place. |
| 8 |
So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets:
and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those
three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
|
| 9 | And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise,
get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.
|
| 10 | But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the
host: |
| 11 |
And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine
hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah
his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. |
| 12 |
And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay
along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were
without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. |
| 13 | And when
Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and
said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into
the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and
overturned it, that the tent lay along. |
|
14 | And his fellow answered
and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man
of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.
|
| 15 | And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the
interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of
Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of
Midian. |
| 16
| And he divided the three hundred men into three
companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and
lamps within the pitchers. |
|
17 | And he said unto them, Look on me, and
do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be
that, as I do, so shall ye do. |
| 18 | When I blow with a trumpet, I
and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all
the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. |
| 19 | So
Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the
camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the
watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their
hands. |
| 20
| And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the
pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their
right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of
Gideon. |
| 21
| And they stood every man in his place round about the
camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. |
| 22 | And the
three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his
fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in
Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. |
| 23 | And the
men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher,
and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites. |
| 24 | And
Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, come down against
the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then
all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto
Bethbarah and Jordan. |
| 25 | And they took two princes of the Midianites,
Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the
winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb
to Gideon on the other side Jordan. |
