Early in the morning Jerub-Baal (also called Gideon) and all his men set up their camp at the spring of Harod. The Midianites were camped north of them in the valley at the bottom of the hill called Moreh. ²Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men to defeat the Midianites. I don’t want the Israelites to brag that they saved themselves. ³So now, announce to the people, ‘Anyone who is afraid may leave Mount Gilead and go back home.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men returned home, but ten thousand remained.

⁴Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take the men down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say, ‘This man will go with you, he will go. But if I say, ‘That one will not go with you,’ he will not go.”

⁵So Gideon led the men down to the water. There the Lord said to him, “Separate them into those who drink water by lapping it up like a dog and those who bend down to drink.” ⁶There were three hundred men who used their hands to bring water to their mouths, lapping it as a dog does. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

⁷Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Using the three hundred men who lapped the water, I will save you and hand Midian over to you. Let all the others go home.” ⁸So Gideon sent the rest of Israel to their homes. But he kept three hundred men and took the jars and the trumpets of those who left.

Now the camp of Midian was in the valley below Gideon.

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