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Judges 7
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Chapter 7
2. GIDEON MAKES WAR WEST OF THE JORDAN
Yahweh cuts down the numbers of Gideon’s army
1
Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) got up very early, as did all the people with him; he pitched camp at En-harod; the camp of Midian was north of his, under the Hill of Moreh in the valley.
2
Then Yahweh said to Gideon, ‘There are too many people with you for me to put Midian into their power; Israel might claim the credit for themselves at my expense: they might say, “My own hand has rescued me”.
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Therefore, make this proclamation now to the people: “Let anyone who is frightened or fearful go home!” ‘ Gideon put them to the test. Twenty-two thousand men went home, and ten thousand were left.
4
Yahweh said to Gideon, ‘There are still too many people. Take them down to the waterside and I will sift them there. If I say of a man: He is to go with you, that man is to go with you. And if I say of a man: He is not to go with you, that man is not to go.’
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So Gideon took the people down to the waterside, and Yahweh said to him, ‘All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, place these on one side. And all those who kneel down to drink, place these on the other side.’
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The number of those who lapped with their tongues was three hundred; all the rest of the people had knelt to drink.
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Then Yahweh said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred who lapped the water I will rescue you and put Midian into your power. Let all the others go back, every man to his own home.’
8
Gideon made the people give him what pitchers and horns they had, then sent away all the Israelites, each to his own tent, keeping only the three hundred with him. The camp of Midian was below his own in the valley.
An omen of victory
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Now it came about that in the night Yahweh said to him, ‘Get up and go down to the camp. I am putting it into your power.
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However, if you are afraid to make the assault, go down first to the camp with your servant Purah;
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listen to what they are saying; you will be encouraged by it and then you will march against the camp.’ So with his servant Purah he went down to the outposts of the camp.
12
Midian and Amalek and all the sons of the East stretched through the valley as thick as locusts; their camels were innumerable like the sand on the seashore.
13
Gideon came up just as a man was telling his comrade a dream; he was saying, ‘I had a dream: a cake made of barley bread came rolling through the camp of Midian; it reached the tent, struck against it and turned it upside down’.
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His comrade answered, ‘This can be nothing else than the sword of Gideon son of Joash the Israelite. God has put Midian and all the camp into his power.’
15
When Gideon heard the dream thus told and interpreted, he fell to his knees; then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘On your feet, for Yahweh has put the camp of Midian into your power!’
The surprise attack
16
Gideon then divided his three hundred men into three companies. To each man he gave a horn and an empty pitcher, with a torch inside each pitcher.
17
He said to them, ‘Watch me, and do as I do. When I reach the edge of the camp, whatever I do, you do too.
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When I sound the horn, I and those with me, then you too must sound your horns all round the camp and shout, “For Yahweh and for Gideon!”‘
19
Gideon and his hundred companions reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when the new sentries had just been posted; they sounded their horns and smashed the pitchers in their hands.
20
The three companies sounded their horns and smashed their pitchers; with their left hands they grasped the torches, with their right hands the horns ready to blow; and they shouted, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’
21
And they stood still, spaced out all round the camp. Then the whole camp woke and the Midianites fled, shouting.
22
While the three hundred kept sounding their horns, Yahweh made every man in the camp turn his sword against his comrade. They all fled as far as Beth-shittah towards Zarethan, as far as the bank of Abel-meholah opposite Tabbath.
The pursuit
23
The men of Israel mustered from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh, and pursued Midian.
24
Gideon sent messengers throughout the highiands of Ephraim to say, ‘Come down and fight Midian, seize the water-points as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan before they reach them’. All the men of Ephraim mustered and seized the water-points as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.
25
They captured the two Midianite chieftains, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at Oreb’s Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb’s Winepress. They pursued Midian; and they brought Gideon the heads of Oreb and of Zeeb beyond the Jordan.
Chapters of Judges
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
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