Judges 7–8

¹And Jerubbaal (he is Gideon) riseth early, and all the people who are with him, and they encamp by the well of Harod, and the camp of Midian hath been on the south of him, on the height of Moreh, in the valley. ²And Jehovah saith unto Gideon, ‘Too many are the people who are with thee for My giving Midian into their hand, lest Israel beautify itself against Me, saying, My hand hath given salvation to me; ³and now, call, I pray thee, in the ears of the people, saying, Whoso is afraid and trembling, let him turn back and go early from mount Gilead;’ and there turn back of the people twenty and two thousand, and ten thousand have been left. ⁴And Jehovah saith unto Gideon, ‘Yet are the people too many; bring them down unto the water, and I refine it for thee there; and it hath been, he of whom I say unto thee, This doth go with thee—he doth go with thee; and any of whom I say unto thee, This doth not go with thee—he doth not go.’ ⁵And he bringeth down the people unto the water, and Jehovah saith unto Gideon, ‘Every one who lappeth with his tongue of the water as the dog lappeth—thou dost set him apart; also every one who boweth on his knees to drink.’ ⁶And the number of those lapping with their hand unto their mouth is three hundred men, and all the rest of the people have bowed down on their knees to drink water. ⁷And Jehovah saith unto Gideon, ‘By the three hundred men who are lapping I save you, and have given Midian into thy hand, and all the people go, each to his place.’ ⁸And the people take the provision in their hand, and their trumpets, and every man of Israel he hath sent away, each to his tents; and on the three hundred men he hath kept hold, and the camp of Midian hath been by him at the lower part of the valley.

⁹And it cometh to pass, on that night, that Jehovah saith unto him, ‘Rise, go down into the camp, for I have given it into thy hand; ¹⁰and if thou art afraid to go down—go down, thou and Phurah thy young man, unto the camp, ¹¹and thou hast heard what they speak, and afterwards are thy hands strengthened, and thou hast gone down against the camp.’ And he goeth down, he and Phurah his young man, unto the extremity of the fifties who are in the camp; ¹²and Midian and Amalek, and all the sons of the east are lying in the valley, as the locust for multitude, and of their camels there is no number, as sand which is on the sea-shore for multitude. ¹³And Gideon cometh in, and lo, a man is recounting to his companion a dream, and saith, ‘Lo, a dream I have dreamed, and lo, a cake of barley-bread is turning itself over into the camp of Midian, and it cometh in unto the tent, and smiteth it, and it falleth, and turneth it upwards, and the tent hath fallen.’ ¹⁴And his companion answereth and saith, ‘This is nothing save the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; God hath given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’ ¹⁵And it cometh to pass, when Gideon heareth the narration of the dream and its interpretation, that he boweth himself, and turneth back unto the camp of Israel, and saith, ‘Rise ye, for Jehovah hath given into your hand the camp of Midian.’

¹⁶And he divideth the three hundred men into three detachments, and putteth trumpets into the hand of all of them, and empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. ¹⁷And he saith unto them, ‘Look at me, and thus do; and lo, I am coming into the extremity of the camp—and it hath been—as I do so ye do; ¹⁸and I have blown with a trumpet—I and all who are with me, and ye have blown with trumpets, even ye, round about all the camp, and have said, For Jehovah and for Gideon.’ ¹⁹And Gideon cometh—and the hundred men who are with him—into the extremity of the camp, at the beginning of the middle watch (it hath only just confirmed the watchmen), and they blow with trumpets—dashing in pieces also the pitchers which are in their hand; ²⁰and the three detachments blow with trumpets, and break the pitchers, and keep hold with their left hand on the lamps, and with their right hand on the trumpets to blow, and they cry, ‘The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon.’ ²¹And they stand each in his place, round about the camp, and all the camp runneth, and they shout, and flee; ²²and the three hundred blow the trumpets, and Jehovah setteth the sword of each against his companion, even through all the camp; and the camp fleeth unto Beth-Shittah, at Zererath, unto the border of Abel-Meholah, by Tabbath.

²³And the men of Israel are called from Naphtali, and from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and pursue after Midian. ²⁴And messengers hath sent Gideon into all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, ‘Come down to meet Midian, and capture before them the waters unto Beth-Barah, and the Jordan;’ and every man of Ephraim is called, and they capture the waters unto Beth-Barah, and the Jordan, ²⁵and they capture two of the heads of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb, and slay Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they have slain at the wine-vat of Zeeb, and they pursue unto Midian; and the heads of Oreb and Zeeb they have brought in unto Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 8

¹And the men of Ephraim say unto him, ‘What is this thing thou hast done to us—not to call for us when thou didst go to fight with Midian?’ and they strive with him severely; ²and he saith unto them, ‘What have I done now like you? are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the harvest of Abi-Ezer? ³Into your hand hath God given the heads of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what have I been able to do like you?’ Then their temper desisted from off him in his speaking this thing.

⁴And Gideon cometh in unto the Jordan, passing over, he and the three hundred men who are with him—wearied, and pursuing, ⁵and he saith to the men of Succoth, ‘Give, I pray you, cakes of bread to the people who are at my feet, for they are wearied, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna kings of Midian.’ ⁶And the heads of Succoth say, ‘Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand, that we give to thy host bread?’ ⁷And Gideon saith, ‘Therefore—in Jehovah’s giving Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand—I have threshed your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with the threshing instruments.’ ⁸And he goeth up thence to Penuel, and speaketh unto them thus; and the men of Penuel answer him as the men of Succoth answered. ⁹And he speaketh also to the men of Penuel, saying, ‘In my turning back in peace, I break down this tower.’ ¹⁰And Zebah and Zalmunna are in Karkor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand, all who are left of all the camp of the sons of the east; and those falling are a hundred and twenty thousand men, drawing sword. ¹¹And Gideon goeth up the way of those who tabernacle in tents, on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smiteth the camp, and the camp was confident; ¹²and Zebab and Zalmunna flee, and he pursueth after them, and captureth the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and all the camp he hath caused to tremble. ¹³And Gideon son of Joash turneth back from the battle, at the going up of the sun, ¹⁴and captureth a young man of the men of Succoth, and asketh him, and he describeth unto him the heads of Succoth, and its elders—seventy and seven men. ¹⁵And he cometh in unto the men of Succoth, and saith, ‘Lo Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye reproached me, saying, Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand that we give to thy men who are wearied bread?’ ¹⁶And he taketh the elders of the city, and the thorns of the wilderness, and the threshing instruments, and teacheth by them the men of Succoth, ¹⁷and the tower of Penuel he hath broken down, and slayeth the men of the city.

¹⁸And he saith unto Zebah and unto Zalmunna, ‘How—the men whom ye slew in Tabor?’ and they say, ‘As thou—so they, one—as the form of the king’s sons.’ ¹⁹And he saith, ‘My brethren—sons of my mother—they; Jehovah liveth, if ye had kept them alive—I had not slain you.’ ²⁰And he saith to Jether his first-born, ‘Rise, slay them;’ and the young man hath not drawn his sword, for he hath been afraid, for he is yet a youth. ²¹And Zebah saith—also Zalmunna—‘Rise thou, and fall upon us; for as the man—his might;’ and Gideon riseth, and slayeth Zebah and Zalmunna, and taketh their round ornaments which are on the necks of their camels.

²²And the men of Israel say unto Gideon, ‘Rule over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, for thou hast saved us from the hand of Midian.’ ²³And Gideon saith unto them, ‘I do not rule over you, nor doth my son rule over you; Jehovah doth rule over you.’ ²⁴And Gideon saith unto them, ‘Let me ask of you a petition, and give ye to me each the ring of his prey, for they have rings of gold, for they are Ishmaelites.’ ²⁵And they say, ‘We certainly give;’ and they spread out the garment, and cast thither each the ring of his prey; ²⁶and the weight of the rings of gold which he asked is a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the round ornaments, and the drops, and the purple garments, which are on the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains which are on the necks of their camels, ²⁷and Gideon maketh it into an ephod, and setteth it up in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel go a-whoring after it there, and it is to Gideon and to his house for a snare. ²⁸And Midian is humbled before the sons of Israel, and have not added to lift up their head; and the land resteth forty years in the days of Gideon.

²⁹And Jerubbaal son of Joash goeth and dwelleth in his own house, ³⁰and to Gideon there have been seventy sons, coming out of his loin, for he had many wives; ³¹and his concubine, who is in Shechem, hath born to him—even she—a son, and he appointeth his name Abimelech. ³²And Gideon son of Joash dieth, in a good old age, and is buried in the burying-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-Ezrite. ³³And it cometh to pass, when Gideon is dead, that the sons of Israel turn back and go a-whoring after the Baalim, and set over them Baal-Berith for a god; ³⁴and the sons of Israel have not remembered Jehovah their God,…