Judges

Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, rose early with all the people with him, and they encamped beside the spring of Harod. The Midianite camp was farther north and extended from the hill of Moreb to the plains.

Then the Lord told Gideon:

“There are too many people with you. If I give the Midianites into their hands, the Israelites might think they won over the Midianites by their own strength.

So summon your men and tell them that whoever is afraid may go home.”

So, twenty-two thousand men returned, and only ten thousand remained.

The Lord told Gideon:

“There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you. If I say, “This one shall go with you,” he will go. Moreover, if I say: Not this one, he shall not go.”

So Gideon brought them down to the water, and the Lord told him:

“Those who lap the water like a dog, you shall place on one side. And you shall place those who kneel down to drink on the other side.”

Three hundred men lapped the water, and the rest knelt down to drink.

Then the Lord told Gideon:

“I will help these three hundred men who lapped the water and give the Midianites into your hands. Let the rest return to their homes.”

The three hundred men took the pitchers and the horns whom Gideon dismissed. Finally, Gideon and his three hundred men faced the Midianites encamped below the valley.

That night, the Lord said to him:

“Rise and go down to the camp because I have given it into your hands.

But if you are afraid to go down alone, set out for the camp with your servant Purah,

and listen to what they say there. You shall be strengthened by it, and then you shall attack the camp.”

He then went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the camp guards.

Midian, Amalek, and all the people of the East were in the valley, thick as locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Gideon approached just as a man was recounting his dream to his comrade. Gideon heard him say:

“I had a dream: a big loaf of barley bread rolled down into the camp of Midian until it came to a tent, bumped against it, and overturned the tent.”

His comrade answered:

“This cannot mean anything other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hands.”

When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed, returned to the camp of Israel, and said:

“Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.”

Gideon divided the three hundred men into three groups. Then he handed the trumpets to all the empty pitchers, each with a lighted torch inside.

He told them:

“Look at me, and do what I do. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.

With the hundred men with him, Gideon came to the Midianite camp just as the guards changed shifts at the beginning of the midnight watch.

Then the Israelites smashed the jars, took the torches in one hand, and blew the trumpets they were holding in the other hand. After blowing the trumpets, the three groups shouted:

“For the Lord and Gideon!”

Everyone stood in his place around the camp while the Midianites ran, shouting as they fled.

As the three hundred Israelites went on blowing the trumpets, the Lord made the Midianites in the camp kill one another. Those who managed to escape went as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah and as far as the border of Abel-meholah opposite Tabbath.

Then the Israelites from the tribe of Naphtali, Asher, and the whole of Manasseh came to help Gideon, and they pursued Midian.

Gideon also sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim to say:

“Come down to fight against Midian and block the passages as far as Beth-barah and along the Jordan.”

So, all the men of Ephraim came out and occupied the shallow waters as far as Beth-barah and along the Jordan.

They took the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, as prisoners. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.