Judges 7

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 7

Midian’s Defeat. ¹ Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all of the people who were with him camped at the well of Harod. The Midianite army was to the north of them, in the valley by the hill of Moreh.

² The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many people with you for me to deliver over the Midianites into your hands. Otherwise, Israel might vaunt themselves against me saying, ‘We have saved ourselves by our own efforts.’ ³ Announce to the people, ‘Whoever is afraid and panicking, let him go back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” Twenty-two thousand of the men left, and there were ten thousand left.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you. Of whomever I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ that is the one who will go with you. Of whomever I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ that one will not go with you.” ⁵ He brought the men down to the water. The Lord said to Gideon, “You will set apart everyone who laps up water like a dog from anyone who kneels down to drink.” ⁶ There were three hundred men who lapped up water by holding their hands to their face. The rest of the men knelt down to drink their water. ⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you through the three hundred men who lapped up their water. I will deliver the Midianites into your hands. Let everyone else go back home.”^{[a] 8} So they took the other people’s provisions, and they placed their trumpets in their hands. Gideon sent all the other Israelite men back to their homes, but he kept three hundred men with him.

The army of Midian was camped in the valley below them. ⁹ That same night the Lord said to him, “Rise up, go down against the army, for I have delivered them into your hands. ¹⁰ Draw near them until you can hear what they are saying, ¹¹ and then your hands will be strengthened so that you can descend upon the camp.” So he and his servant Purah went down to the outskirts of the camp. ¹² The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all of the other easterners were lying in the valley, as thick as locusts. There were so many camels that they could not be counted; there were as many of them as there is sand on the seashore.

¹³ Gideon arrived just as a man was telling his friend about a dream. He said, “I dreamed that a barley cake^[b] came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard that it overturned and collapsed.” ¹⁴ His friend said, “This can only be the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and its entire army into his hands.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the content of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. He returned to the army of Israel and said, “Rise up, for the Lord has delivered the army of Midian into your hands.”

¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three groups, and he placed trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them into each man’s hands. ¹⁷ He said to them, “Watch me. Do whatever I do. When we reach the edge of the camp, do whatever I do. ¹⁸ When I and all those who are with me blow our trumpets, then blow your trumpets all around the camp and shout out, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹ Gideon and the three hundred men who were with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. ²⁰ The three groups blew their trumpets and broke their jars, holding the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands. They blew their trumpets and cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.”

²¹ While each man stood in his place around the camp, the army ran away crying. ²² When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused each man to attack his fellow soldiers with his sword. The army fled to Beth-shittah, toward Zeredah, coming to the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.^[c]

²³ The men of Israel from out of Naphtali, from out of Asher, and from out of Manasseh gathered together and pursued the Midianites. ²⁴ Gideon sent messengers all throughout the hill country of Ephraim who said, “Come down against the Midianites, and capture the fords of the Jordan at Beth-barah before they reach them.” So all the men from Ephraim gathered together and captured the fords of the Jordan at Beth-barah. ²⁵ They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, two of the princes of the Midianites. They killed Oreb upon the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon who was alongside of the Jordan.