Judges 7

7 ¹ Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people with him rose early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

² Our Father said to Gideon, "You have too many people with you for me to give Midian into their hands. Israel might boast against me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'" ³ "Now then, proclaim in the hearing of the people: Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him turn back and leave Mount Gilead." So twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, and ten thousand remained.

⁴ Our Father said to Gideon, "There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. Anyone I tell you, 'This one will go with you,' will go; and anyone I tell you, 'This one will not go with you,' will not go."

⁵ So he brought the people down to the water, and our Father said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, set him apart by himself; likewise everyone who kneels down to drink."

⁶ The number of those who lapped, hand to mouth, was three hundred men; all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.

⁷ Our Father said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men who lapped I will save you and give Midian into your hand. Let all the others go home, each to his own place."

⁸ So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. Gideon sent all the rest of Israel away, each to his tent, but kept the three hundred men. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

The Father Strengthens Gideon's Hand

⁹ That same night our Father said to him, "Get up, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand." ¹⁰ "But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, ¹¹ and you will hear what they say. After that your hands will be strengthened to go down against the camp." So he went down with Purah his servant to the edge of the armed men in the camp.

¹² Now the Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the people of the East lay across the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were without number, as countless as the sand on the seashore. ¹³ When Gideon arrived, a man was telling his comrade a dream. He said, "Listen, I had a dream: a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the camp of Midian. It struck the tent so hard that it fell, turned upside down, and collapsed."

¹⁴ His comrade replied, "This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand."

The Father Routs Midian

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Get up, for our Father has given the camp of Midian into your hands." ¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three companies and put trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside the jars.

¹⁷ He said to them, "Watch me, and do the same. When I reach the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do." ¹⁸ "When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow your trumpets all around the camp and shout, 'For our Father and for Gideon!'"

¹⁹ Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the guards had been posted. They blew the trumpets and smashed the jars in their hands. ²⁰ The three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, they shouted, "A sword for our Father and for Gideon!" ²¹ Each man stood in his place around the camp, and the whole army ran; they cried out and fled. ²² When the three hundred trumpets sounded, our Father turned every man's sword against his comrade throughout the camp. The army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, to the border of Abel-meholah, near Tabbath. ²³ The men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. ²⁴ Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian and seize the waters ahead of them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ They captured the two Midianite princes, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.