Judges 7–8

GOD SELECTS GIDEON’S ARMY

7Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. ²The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say,^A ‘I saved myself.’ ³Now announce to the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ”^h So twenty-two thousand of the troops turned back, but ten thousand remained.

⁴Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many troops. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one can go with you,’ he can go. But if I say about anyone, ‘This one cannot go with you,’ he cannot go.” ⁵So he brought the troops down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate everyone who laps water with his tongue like a dog. Do the same with everyone who kneels to drink.” ⁶The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men, and all the rest of the troops knelt to drink water. ⁷The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you^a with the three hundred men who lapped and hand the Midianites over to you. But everyone else is to go home.” ⁸So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred troops, who took the provisions and their rams’ horns. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

GIDEON SPIES ON THE MIDIANITE CAMP

⁹That night the Lord said to him, “Get up and attack the camp, for I have handed it over to you.^{b 10}But if you are afraid to attack the camp, go down with Purah your servant. ¹¹Listen to what they say, and then you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the troops^B who were in the camp.

¹²Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the people of the east had settled down in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. ¹³When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, “Listen, I had a dream:^c a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed.”

¹⁴His friend answered, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has handed the entire Midianite camp over to him.”

GIDEON ATTACKS THE MIDIANITES

¹⁵When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to Israel’s camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord has handed the Midianite camp over to you.” ¹⁶Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each of the men a trumpet in one hand and an empty pitcher with a torch inside it in the other hand.

¹⁷“Watch me,” he said to them, “and do what I do. When I come to the outpost of the camp, do as I do. ¹⁸When I and everyone with me blow our rams’ horns, you are also to blow your rams’ horns all around the camp. Then you will say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹Gideon and the hundred men who were with him went to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch after the sentries had been stationed. They blew their rams’ horns and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰The three companies blew their rams’ horns and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands and their rams’ horns to blow in their right hands, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army began to run, and they cried out as they fled. ²²When Gideon’s men blew their three hundred rams’ horns, the Lord caused the men in the whole army to turn on each other with their swords.^d They fled to Acacia House^A in the direction of Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah^e near Tabbath. ²³Then the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.

THE MEN OF EPHRAIM JOIN THE BATTLE

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim with this message: “Come down to intercept the Midianites and take control of the watercourses ahead of them as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim^f were called out, and they took control of the watercourses as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵They captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, while they were pursuing the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

8The men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you done this to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?” And they argued with him violently.

²So he said to them, “What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning^g of Ephraim better than the grape harvest^h of Abiezer? ³God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

GIDEON PURSUES THE KINGS OF MIDIAN

⁴Gideon and the three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it. They were exhausted but still in pursuit. ⁵He said to the men of Succoth,^a “Please give some loaves of bread to the troops under my command,^B because they are exhausted, for I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶But the princes of Succoth asked, “Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands that we should give bread to your army?”

⁷Gideon replied, “Very well, when the Lord has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will tear^A your flesh with thorns and briers from the wilderness!” ⁸He went from there to Penuel and asked the same thing from them. The men of Penuel^b answered just as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹He also told the men of Penuel, “When I return safely, I will tear down this tower!”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and with them was their army of about fifteen thousand men, who were all those left of the entire army of the people of the east. Those who had been killed were one hundred twenty thousand armed men. ¹¹Gideon traveled on the caravan route^B east of Nobah^c and Jogbehah and attacked their army while the army felt secure. ¹²Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them. He captured these two kings of Midian and routed the entire army.

¹³Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres. ¹⁴He captured a youth from the men of Succoth and interrogated him. The youth wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth. ¹⁵Then he went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You taunted me about them, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your power that we should give bread to your exhausted men?’ ” ¹⁶So he took the elders of the city, and he took some thorns and briers from the wilderness, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them. ¹⁷He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸He asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?”

“They were like you,” they said. “Each resembled the son of a king.”

¹⁹So he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother! As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” The youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a youth.

²¹Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and strike us down yourself, for a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

GIDEON’S LEGACY

²²Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us,^d you as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you delivered us from the power of Midian.”

²³But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴Then he said to them, “Let me make a request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder.” Now the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.

²⁵They said, “We agree to give them.” So they spread out a cloak, and everyone threw an earring from his plunder on it. ²⁶The weight of the gold earrings he requested was forty-three pounds^A of gold, in addition to the crescent ornaments and ear pendants, the purple garments on the kings of Midian, and the chains on the necks of their camels. ²⁷Gideon made an ephod^e from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

²⁸So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they were no longer a threat. The land had peace for forty years^f during the days of Gideon. ²⁹Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) son of Joash went back to live at his house.

³⁰Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, since he had many wives. ³¹His concubine who was in Shechem^g also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. ³²Then Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³When Gideon died, the Israelites turned and prostituted^a themselves by worshiping the Baals and made Baal-berith^B their god. ³⁴The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God^b who had rescued them from the hand of the enemies around them. ³⁵They did not show kindness^c to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.