Judges 7

Gideon's Three Hundred Men

1 Then a Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

2 And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel b claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' 3 "Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, c 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.' " And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

4 But the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go." 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink." 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. 7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, d "By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his 1 place." 8 So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9 It happened on the same e night that the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered 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 shall f hear what they say; and afterward 2 your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, g all the people of the East, were lying in the valley h as numerous as locusts; and their camels were 3 without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. 13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, "I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed." 14 Then his companion answered and said, "This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand i God has delivered Midian and the whole camp."

15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand." 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. 17 And he said to them, "Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: 18 "When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!' "

Gideon Defeats Midian

19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers - they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing - and they cried, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!" 21 And j every man stood in his place all around the camp; k and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. 22 When the three hundred l blew the trumpets, m the LORD set n every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to 4 Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of o Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel gathered together from p Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the q mountains of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan." Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and r seized the watering places as far as s Beth Barah and the Jordan. 25 And they captured t two princes of the Midianites, u Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the v other side of the Jordan.

  1. Cross References
    Judges 6:32
    Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.
  2. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 8:17
    "then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'
    Isaiah 10:13
    For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom, for I am prudent; Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, And have robbed their treasuries; So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
  3. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 20:8
    "The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.'
  4. Cross References
    1 Samuel 14:6
    Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.
  5. Cross References
    Genesis 46:2
    Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" And he said, "Here I am.
    Genesis 46:3
    So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.
    Judges 6:25
    Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, "Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it.
  6. Cross References
    Genesis 24:14
    "Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink' - let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master."
    1 Samuel 14:9
    If they say thus to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them.
    1 Samuel 14:10
    "But if they say thus, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up. For the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us."
  7. Cross References
    Judges 6:3
    So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
    Judges 6:33
    Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
    Judges 8:10
    Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East; for one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen.
  8. Cross References
    Judges 6:5
    For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.
  9. Cross References
    Judges 6:14
    Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?
    Judges 6:16
    And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.
  10. Cross References
    Exodus 14:13
    And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.
    Exodus 14:14
    "The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."
    2 Chronicles 20:17
    'You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you."
  11. Cross References
    2 Kings 7:7
    Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact - their tents, their horses, and their donkeys - and they fled for their lives.
  12. Cross References
    Joshua 6:4
    And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
    Joshua 6:16
    And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!
    Joshua 6:20
    So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
  13. Cross References
    Psalms 83:9
    Deal with them as with Midian, As with Sisera, As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon.
    Isaiah 9:4
    For You have broken the yoke of his burden And the staff of his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor, As in the day of Midian.
  14. Cross References
    1 Samuel 14:20
    Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed every man's sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion.
    2 Chronicles 20:23
    For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
  15. Cross References
    1 Kings 4:12
    Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth Shean, which is beside Zaretan below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as the other side of Jokneam.
  16. Cross References
    Judges 6:35
    And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
  17. Cross References
    Judges 3:27
    And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them.
  18. Cross References
    Judges 3:28
    Then he said to them, "Follow me, for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand." So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.
  19. Cross References
    John 1:28
    These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
  20. Cross References
    Judges 8:3
    God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger toward him subsided when he said that.
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 83:11
    Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna.
    Isaiah 10:26
    And the LORD of hosts will stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.
  22. Cross References
    Judges 8:4
    When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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