Judges 7–8

Chapter 7

Gideon’s 300 Chosen Men

¹Then ^aJerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside ¹the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of ²them by the hill of ^bMoreh in the valley.

²The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, ^afor Israel ¹would become boastful, saying, ‘My own ²power has delivered me.’

³“Now therefore ¹come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^aWhoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’ ” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.

^4aThen the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

⁵So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink.”

⁶Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water.

⁷The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you ^awith the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his ¹home.”

⁸So ¹the 300 men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And ²Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, ^afor I have given it into your hands.

¹⁰“But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp,

¹¹and you will hear what they say; and ^aafterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant down to the ¹outposts of the army that was in the camp.

¹²Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley ^aas numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^bas numerous as the sand on the seashore.

¹³When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I ¹had a dream; ²a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it ³upside down so that the tent lay flat.”

¹⁴His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp ^ainto his hand.”

¹⁵When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.”

¹⁶He divided the 300 men into three ¹companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers.

¹⁷He said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, ¹do as I do.

¹⁸“When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ ”

Confusion of the Enemy

¹⁹So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.

²⁰When the three ¹companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

²¹Each stood in his place around the camp; and ^aall the ¹army ran, crying out as they fled.

²²When they blew 300 trumpets, the ^aLord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole ¹army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^bAbel-meholah, by Tabbath.

²³The men of Israel were summoned from ^aNaphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down ¹against Midian and ^atake the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.

²⁵They captured the two leaders of Midian, ^aOreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon ^bfrom across the Jordan.

Chapter 8

Zebah and Zalmunna Routed

¹Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “^aWhat is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him vigorously.

²But he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

³“God has given the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their ¹anger toward him subsided when he said ²that.

⁴Then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came ^ato the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing.

⁵He said to the men of ^aSuccoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶The leaders of Succoth said, “^1aAre the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?”

⁷Gideon said, “¹All right, ^awhen the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will ²thrash your ³bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”

⁸He went up from there to ^1aPenuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.

⁹So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I return safely, ^aI will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their ¹armies with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire ²army of the sons of the east; ^afor the fallen were 120,000 ³swordsmen.

¹¹Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and ¹attacked the camp when the camp was ²unsuspecting.

¹²When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole ¹army.

¹³Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle ¹by the ascent of Heres.

¹⁴And he captured a youth ¹from Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

¹⁵He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, ‘^1aAre the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’ ”

¹⁶He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he ¹disciplined the men of Succoth with them.

^17aHe tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” And they said, “They were like you, each one ¹resembling the son of a king.”

¹⁹He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

²⁰So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them.” But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.

²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise up yourself, and fall on us; for as the man, so is his strength.” ^aSo Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and ^btook the crescent ornaments which were on their camels’ necks.

²²Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.”

²³But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; ^athe Lord shall rule over you.”

²⁴Yet Gideon said to them, “I would ¹request of you, that each of you give me ²an earring from his spoil.” (For they had gold earrings, because they were ^aIshmaelites.)

²⁵They said, “We will surely give them.” So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil.

²⁶The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels’ necks.

²⁷Gideon made it into ^aan ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Forty Years of Peace

²⁸So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon.

²⁹Then ^aJerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.

³⁰Now Gideon had ^aseventy sons who ¹were his direct descendants, for he had many wives.

³¹His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he ¹named him Abimelech.

³²And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, ^athat the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made ^bBaal-berith their god.

³⁴Thus the sons of Israel ^adid not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;

^35anor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.