Judges 7
Three Hundred with Torches Hidden in Jars
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The Army Reduced at the Water
7:1Jerubbaal—that is, Gideon—and all the people with him rose early and camped in the land of Aroed. The camp of Midian and Amalek was north of him, by the hill of Abor in the valley.
7:2The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for Me to hand Midian into their hand, lest Israel boast against Me, saying, ‘My own hand saved me.’”
7:3The Lord said to him, “Speak now in the people’s hearing, saying, ‘Who is cowardly and afraid? Let him turn back.’” They departed from Mount Gilead, and twenty-two thousand of the people turned back; ten thousand remained.
7:4The Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Whoever I tell you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you; and whoever I tell you shall not go with you, shall not go with you.”
7:5He brought the people down to the water. The Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps water with his tongue as a dog laps, set him apart; and everyone who bends upon his knees to drink, move him aside by himself.”
7:6The whole number of those who lapped with their tongue was three hundred men. All the rest of the people bent upon their knees to drink water.
7:7The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will save you and hand Midian into your hand. Let all the other people run off, each to his place.”
7:8They took the people’s provisions and their horn trumpets into their hands. He sent every man of Israel to his dwelling, but retained the three hundred men. Midian’s camp was below him in the valley.
The Dream in the Midianite Camp
7:9That night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down quickly from here into the camp, for I have handed it into your hand.
7:10But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant,
7:11and hear what they say. Afterward your hands will grow strong, and you will go down into the camp.” He and Purah his servant went down to a section of the fifty in the camp.
7:12Midian, Amalek, and all the sons of the east were encamped in the valley like locusts in multitude. Their camels were beyond numbering, like sand on the seashore in multitude.
7:13Gideon entered, and look, a man was explaining his dream to his neighbor. He said, “Look at the dream I dreamed: a cake of barley bread was rolling through Midian’s camp. It came to Midian’s tent, struck it, and overturned it, and the tent fell.”
7:14His neighbor answered, “This is nothing but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. The Lord has handed Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”
7:15When Gideon heard the dream’s account and its interpretation, he worshiped the Lord. He returned to Israel’s camp and said, “Arise, for the Lord has handed Midian’s camp into your hands.”
Trumpets, Jars, and Torches
7:16He divided the three hundred men into three companies and put horn trumpets into all their hands, and empty water jars with torches inside the jars.
7:17He said to them, “Watch me and do likewise. Look, I am entering the middle of the camp; as I do, so shall you do.
7:18When I and all those with me sound the horn trumpet, you too shall sound the horn trumpets around the camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”
7:19Gideon and the hundred men with him entered a section of the camp as the middle watch began. He thoroughly roused the guards, and they sounded the horn trumpets and dashed the jars in their hands.
7:20The three companies sounded the horn trumpets and shattered the jars. They grasped the torches in their left hands, with the horn trumpets in their right hands to sound them, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
7:21Each stood by himself around the camp. The whole camp ran; they sounded the alarm and fled.
7:22The three hundred horn trumpets sounded, and the Lord set each man’s sword against his neighbor throughout the camp. The camp fled as far as Beth-shittah and, gathered together, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah and toward Tabbath.
Oreb and Zeeb Taken
7:23The men of Israel cried out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.
7:24Gideon sent messengers throughout Ephraim’s territory, saying, “Go down to meet Midian and seize for yourselves the water as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.” All the men of Ephraim cried out, and they seized the water beforehand as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.
7:25They captured Midian’s two rulers, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb in Sourin and Zeeb in Jakephzeeb, and pursued Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from beyond the Jordan.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V2 · working draft awaiting specialist review.