Dual PanelGideon Reduces the Ranks
1Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. The Midianites were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.
2The
3Now, announce to the men, ‘Whoever is shaking with fear may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand men went home; ten thousand remained.
4The
5So he brought the men down to the water. Then the
6Three hundred men lapped; the rest of the men kneeled to drink water.
7The
8The men who were chosen took supplies and their trumpets. Gideon sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites were camped down below in the valley.
Gideon Reassured of Victory
9That night the
10But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant
11and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp.
12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.
13When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. The man said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.”
14The other man said, “Without a doubt this symbolizes the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”
Gideon Routs the Enemy
15When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the
16He divided the three hundred men into three units. He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them.
17He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do!
18When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the
19Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying.
20All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. Then they yelled, “A sword for the
21They stood in order all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away.
22When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the
23Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites.
Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites
24Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. Take control of the fords of the streams all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” When all the Ephraimites had assembled, they took control of the fords all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.
25They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River.