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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
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 Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah,
unto Tabbath.
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.
And
Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down
against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah
and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together,
and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.
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.
