Judges 7–8

Gideon’s Three Hundred Men

7Then Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) rose early, and all the army that was with him. They were camped beside the spring of Harod;^a the camp of Midian was north of the hill of Moreh, in the valley. ²And Yahweh said to Gideon, “The troops that are with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hands; Israel will boast, saying, ‘My hand has delivered me.’ ³So then, please proclaim in the hearing^b of the troops, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from the Mount of Gilead.’ ” About twenty-two thousand troops returned, and ten thousand remained. ⁴And Yahweh said to Gideon, “There are still too many troops; bring them down to the water, and I will sift through them^c for you there. For whomever I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he will go with you; and for all whom I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he will not go.” ⁵So he brought down the troops to the water, and Yahweh said to Gideon, “You must separate everyone who laps up the water to drink with his tongue like a dog from those who kneel.”^{d 6}The number of those lapping up the water with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; all the rest of the troops kneeled to drink the water. ⁷And Yahweh said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the three hundred men lapping up the water; I will give Midian into your hand, so let the other troops go, each to his own place. ⁸So they took their provisions and their trumpets into their hand, and he sent all the men of Israel, each one, to his tent; but three hundred of the men he kept; the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹And that night Yahweh said to him, “Get up; go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. ¹⁰But if you are afraid, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, ¹¹and you will hear what they say; and afterward you will have courage,^e and you will go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men^f that were in the camp. ¹²Now the Midianites,^g Amalekites,^h and all the people of the east were lying in the valley, like a great multitude of locusts; their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand that is on the shore of the sea. ¹³When Gideon came, a man was recounting a dreamⁱ to his friend, and he said, “Behold, I had a dream;^j a round loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came up to the tent, it struck it, and it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent fell.” ¹⁴His friend answered him and said, “This cannot be anything except the sword of Gideon son of Jehoash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and the entire camp into his hand.”

¹⁵When Gideon heard the recounting of the dream^k and its interpretation, he bowed down and returned to the camp of Israel; and he said, “Get up, for Yahweh has given the camp of Midian into your hand.” ¹⁶He divided the three hundred men into three companies,^l and he put trumpets and empty jars in everyone’s hand, with torches inside the jars. ¹⁷And he said to them, “Watch me and do the same. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do.^{m 18}When I and all who are with me blow on the trumpet, you must also blow on the trumpets and surround the camp, and you must say, ‘To Yahweh and to Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle night-watch, when they had just finished setting up the guards, and they blew on the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.^{n 20}When three companies^o blew on the trumpets and broke the jars, they held in their left hand the torches and in their right hand the trumpets for blowing, and they cried, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!” ²¹And each stood in his place^p all around the camp, and all the camp ran, and they cried out as they fled. ²²When they blew the three hundred trumpets, Yahweh set the sword of each one against his neighbor throughout the whole camp, and the camp^q fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, up to Abel Meholah, the border by Tabbath. ²³And the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all of Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

²⁴And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to oppose^r Midian, and capture from them the waters up to Beth Barah and the Jordan.” He called out all the men of Ephraim, and they captured the waters up to Beth Barah and the Jordan. ²⁵And they captured the two commanders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they chased Midian; and they brought the heads^s of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from beyond the Jordan.

Gideon Pursues Zebah and Zalmunna

8The men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?”^a And they quarreled with him severely. ²And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? ³God has given into your hand the commanders of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” And their anger^b against him subsided when he said that.^c

⁴Then Gideon came to the Jordan, crossing it with the three hundred men who were with him, weary and pursuing. ⁵He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me,^d for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶The officials of Succoth said, “Is the hand^e of Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand now, that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷Gideon said, “Well then, when Yahweh gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will trample your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness.” ⁸He went from there to Penuel, and he spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered. ⁹And he said also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I return safely,^f I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men remained from the entire army^g of the people of the east; those that fell in battle were one hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen.^{h 11}And Gideon went up the route of those who dwell in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the armyⁱ when it was off its guard.^{j 12}And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he routed^k the entire army.^l

¹³Then Gideon son of Jehoash returned from the battle by way of^m the ascent of Heres.^{n 14}He captured a young man from Succoth^o and questioned him. The young man listed^p for him the commanders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵He came to the men of Succoth, and he said, “Here is Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Is the palm^q of Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand now, that we should give food to your weary men?’ ” ¹⁶He took the elders of the city and the thorn bushes and briers of the wilderness, and he trampled^r the men of Succoth with them. ¹⁷He broke down the tower of Penuel, and he killed the men of the city.

¹⁸And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What type were the men whom you killed at Tabor?” And they said, “They were like you;^s each one of them had the appearance of the sons of the king.” ¹⁹He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had kept them alive I would not kill you.” ²⁰And he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up, kill them.” But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a boy. ²¹Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up yourself, and strike us, for as is the man, so is his power.”^t So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

²²The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your sons, and your sons’ son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. ²³But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you.” ²⁴And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you,^u that each of you give to me an ornamental ring from his plunder.” (They had ornamental rings of gold, because they were Ishmaelites.) ²⁵They said, “We will gladly give them,” and they spread out a garment, and everyone threw there an ornamental ring of his plunder. ²⁶The weight of the ornamental rings of gold that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the crescents, pendants, and purple garments that were on the kings of Midian, and apart from the pendants that were on the necks of their camels. ²⁷Gideon made an ephod out of it, and he put it in his town in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. ²⁸And Midian was subdued before the Israelites,^v and they did not again lift up their head, and the land rested for forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death of Gideon

²⁹Jerub-Baal son of Joash lived in his own house. ³⁰Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring,^w for he had many wives. ³¹His concubine who was in Shechem also bore for him a son, and he named him^x Abimelech. ³²And Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of Jehoash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.^y

³³And it happened, as soon as Gideon died, the Israelites^z returned and prostituted themselves after the Baals, and they made for themselves Baal-Berith as god. ³⁴The Israelites^a did not remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them from the hand of their enemies from all around, ³⁵nor did they show favor^b to the house of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in accordance with all the good that he did for Israel.