Judges 7–8

God Selects Gideon’s Army

7Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and everyone who was 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 people for Me to hand the Midianites over to you, ⁱor else Israel might brag: ^j‘I did it myself.’ ³Now announce in the presence of the people: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” ^kSo 22,000 of the people turned back, but 10,000 remained.

⁴Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. 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 people 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 300 men, and all the rest of the people knelt to drink water. ⁷The Lord said to Gideon, ^l“I will deliver you with the 300 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 300, who took ^mthe people’s provisions and their trumpets. 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 go into the camp, for I have given it into your hand. ⁿ¹⁰But if you are afraid to go to the camp, go with Purah your servant. ¹¹Listen to what they say, and then you will be strengthened to go to the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant to the outpost of the troops ^owho were in the camp.

¹²Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the Qedemites 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: ^pa 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 300 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.

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

¹⁹Gideon and the 100 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 trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰The three companies blew their trumpets and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands, their trumpets ^rin their right hands, and shouted, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!” ²¹Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, and cried out as they ran. ²²When Gideon’s men blew their 300 trumpets, the Lord set the swords of each man in the army against each other. ^sThey fled to Beth-shittah in the direction of Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah ^tnear 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 ^uwere 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 ^vof Ephraim better than the vintage ^wof 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 300 men came to the Jordan and crossed it. They were exhausted but still in pursuit. ⁵He said to the men of Succoth, ^x“Please give some loaves of bread to the people who are following me, ^ybecause they are exhausted, for I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶But the princes of Succoth asked, “Are ^zZebah 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 trample ^ayour flesh on thorns and briers from the wilderness!” ⁸He went from there to Penuel and asked the same thing from them. The men of Penuel ^banswered just as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹He also told the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower!”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and with them was their army of about 15,000 men, who were all those left of the entire army of the Qedemites. Those who had been killed were 120,000 warriors. ^c11Gideon traveled on the caravan route ^deast of Nobah ^eand Jogbehah and attacked their army while the army was unsuspecting. 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 77 princes 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 ^fZebah 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 kill us 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, ^gyou 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 mantle, and everyone threw an earring from his plunder on it. ²⁶The weight of the gold earrings he requested was about 43 pounds ^hof 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 ⁱfrom all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves with 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. ^jThe land was peaceful 40 years ^kduring the days of Gideon. ²⁹Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) son of Joash went back to live at his house.

³⁰Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, since he had many wives. ³¹His concubine who was in Shechem ^lalso bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. ³²Then Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe 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 ^mthemselves with the Baals and made Baal-berith ⁿtheir god. ³⁴The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God ^owho had delivered them from the power of the enemies around them. ³⁵They did not show kindness ^pto the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.