Gideon’s Army of Three Hundred

1And Jerubbaal (he is Gideon)† rose early, and all the people who were with him, and they encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianite was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

2And YHWH said to Gideon, “The people are too many who are with you for My giving the Midianite into their hands, lest Israel glorify itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3And now proclaim, please, in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Who is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’”

And returned of the people twenty-two thousand; and ten thousand remained.

4And YHWH said to Gideon, “Still the people are too many; bring them down to the water, and I will refine it for you there. And it will be that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

5And he brought down the people to the water. And YHWH said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself, and likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” 6And the number of those lapping with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; and all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.

7And YHWH said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who are lapping I will save you⁺ and deliver the Midianite into your hand; and let all the people go, every man to his place.”

8And the people took provisions in their hands, and their shofars, and every man of Israel he sent away, every man to his tent, and on the three hundred men he kept hold, and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

The Sword of Gideon

9And it happened on that night that YHWH said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. 10But if you are afraid to go down—go down, you and Purah your servant, to the camp, 11and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hand shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” And he went down, and Purah his young man, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.

12And the Midianite and Amalekite and all the sons of the East were lying in the valley as the locust in multitude, and their camels were without number, as the sand by the shore of the sea in multitude. 13And Gideon had come, and there was a man telling to his companion a dream, and He said, “Behold, I have had a dream. And behold, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell, and it overturned upwards, and the tent collapsed.”

14And his companion answered and said, “This is nothing except but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered into his hand Midian and all the camp.”

Gideon Defeats Midian

15And it came to pass, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he bowed in worship, and he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for YHWH has delivered into your⁺ hands the camp of Midian.” 16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put shofars into the hand of every man, and empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.

17And he said to them, “You⁺ shall look at me, and likewise you⁺ shall do. And behold, I am coming to the edge of the camp, and as I do, so you⁺ shall do. 18And I will blow on the shofar, I and all who are with me, and you⁺ shall blow on the shofars—even you⁺—on every side of all the camp; and you⁺ shall say, ‘For YHWH and for Gideon.’”

19And Gideon came, and the hundred men who were with him, to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the complete stationing of the guard. And they blew on the shofars and shattered the pitchers that were in their hands. 20And the three companies blew on the shofars and broke the pitchers, and they held in their left hand the torches and in their right hand the shofars for blowing, and they cried out, “A sword for YHWH, and for Gideon.”

21And every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the camp ran and cried out and fled. 22And the three hundred blew the shofars, and YHWH set the sword of every man against his companion and against all the camp, and the camp fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah,† as far as the border of Abel-meholah by Tabbath. 23And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued after the Midianite.

24And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianite and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” And gathered together all the men of Ephraim and seized the watering places as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. 25And they captured two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. And pursuing the Midianite and the heads of Oreb and Zeeb, they brought them to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.