40AND HE DID GOD SO IN THE NIGHT <THE> THAT AND IT WAS DRYNESS TO THE FLEECE TO ALONE IT AND ON ALL THE GROUND IT WAS DEW 40And that night God did so. Only the fleece was dry, and dew covered the ground.
1AND HE ROSE EARLY JERUB-BAAL THAT [IS] GIDEON AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHICH [WAS] WITH HIM AND THEY ENCAMPED AT EN HAROD AND [THE] CAMP OF MIDIAN IT WAS OF <THE> HIM FROM [THE] NORTH FROM [THE] HILL OF <THE> MOREH IN THE VALLEY Gideon’s Army of Three Hundred 1Early in the morning Jerubbaal*NoteCloseJerubbaal is another name for Gideon and probably means let Baal contend; see Judges 6:32. (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
2AND HE SAID YAHWEH TO GIDEON [IS TOO] NUMEROUS THE PEOPLE WHICH [IS] WITH YOU THAN TO GIVE I <OBJ.> MIDIAN IN HAND THEIR LEST IT SHOULD GLORIFY ITSELF OVER ME ISRAEL <TO> SAYING HAND MY IT HAS DELIVERED <TO> <THE> ME 2Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
3AND THEREFORE PROCLAIM PLEASE IN [THE] EARS OF THE PEOPLE <TO> SAYING WHO? [IS] FEARFUL AND TREMBLING LET HIM GO BACK AND HE MAY GO FROM [THE] MOUNTAIN OF <THE> GILEAD AND IT RETURNED OF THE PEOPLE TWENTY AND TWO THOUSAND AND TEN THOUSAND<S> THEY REMAINED 3Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the men: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand of them turned back, but ten thousand remained.
4AND HE SAID YAHWEH TO GIDEON STILL THE PEOPLE [IS] NUMEROUS BRING DOWN <OBJ.> THEM TO THE WATER SO I MAY TEST IT FOR <THE> YOU THERE AND IT WILL BE [THE ONE] WHOM I WILL SAY TO YOU THIS [ONE] HE WILL GO WITH YOU HE HE WILL GO WITH YOU AND EVERY [ONE] WHOM I WILL SAY TO YOU THIS [ONE] NOT HE WILL GO WITH YOU HE NOT HE WILL GO 4Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go. But if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
5AND HE BROUGHT DOWN <OBJ.> THE PEOPLE TO THE WATER AND HE SAID YAHWEH TO GIDEON EVERY [ONE] WHO HE WILL LAP UP WITH TONGUE HIS SOME OF THE WATER JUST AS IT LAPS UP THE DOG YOU WILL SET <OBJ.> HIM <TO> ALONE AND EVERY [ONE] WHO HE WILL BOW DOWN ON KNEES HIS TO DRINK 5So Gideon brought the men down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel to drink.”
6AND IT WAS [THE] NUMBER OF THOSE [WHO] LAPPED WITH HAND THEIR TO MOUTH THEIR THREE HUNDRED<S> MAN AND ALL [THE] REMAINDER OF THE PEOPLE THEY BOWED DOWN ON KNEES THEIR TO DRINK WATER 6And the number of those who lapped the water with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; all the others knelt to drink.
7AND HE SAID YAHWEH TO GIDEON BY THREE HUNDRED<S> THE MAN WHO LAPPED I WILL DELIVER <OBJ.> YOU AND I WILL GIVE <OBJ.> MIDIAN IN HAND YOUR AND ALL THE PEOPLE LET THEM GO EACH TO OWN PLACE HIS 7Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped the water I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. But all the others are to go home.”
8AND THEY TOOK <OBJ.> PROVISION[S] THE PEOPLE IN HAND THEIR AND <OBJ.> TRUMPETS THEIR AND <OBJ.> EVERY <THE> MAN OF ISRAEL HE SENT AWAY EACH TO TENTS HIS AND ON THREE HUNDRED<S> THE MAN HE KEPT HOLD AND [THE] CAMP OF MIDIAN IT WAS TO <THE> HIM FROM UNDER IN THE VALLEY 8So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
9AND IT WAS IN THE NIGHT <THE> THAT AND HE SAID TO HIM YAHWEH ARISE GO DOWN IN THE CAMP FOR I HAVE GIVEN IT IN HAND YOUR The Sword of Gideon 9That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.
10AND IF [ARE] AFRAID YOU TO GO DOWN GO DOWN YOU AND PURAH SERVANT YOUR TO THE CAMP 10But if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah
11AND YOU WILL HEAR WHAT? WILL THEY SPEAK AND AFTER THEY WILL BE STRONG HANDS YOUR AND YOU WILL GO DOWN IN THE CAMP AND HE WENT DOWN HE AND PURAH SERVANT HIS TO [THE] EDGE OF THOSE ARRAYED FOR BATTLE WHO [WERE] IN THE CAMP 11and listen to what they are saying. Then your hands will be strengthened to attack the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant to the outposts where armed men were guarding the camp.
12AND MIDIAN AND AMALEK AND ALL [THE] PEOPLE OF [THE] EAST [WERE] LYING IN THE VALLEY LIKE <THE> LOCUST[S] FOR MULTITUDE AND [BELONGED] TO CAMELS THEIR NOT NUMBER LIKE THE SAND THAT [IS] ON [THE] SHORE OF THE SEA FOR MULTITUDE 12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13AND HE CAME GIDEON AND THERE! A MAN [WAS] RECOUNTING TO NEIGHBOR HIS A DREAM AND HE SAID HERE! A DREAM I HAVE DREAMED AND THERE! A ROUND LOAF OF BREAD OF BARLEY<S> [WAS] TUMBLING IN [THE] CAMP OF MIDIAN AND IT CAME TO THE TENT AND IT STRUCK IT AND IT FELL AND IT OVERTURNED IT <TO> UPWARDS <TOWARDS> AND IT FELL THE TENT 13And as Gideon arrived a man was telling his friend about a dream. “Behold, I had a dream he said, “and I saw a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent so hard that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
14AND HE ANSWERED NEIGHBOR HIS AND HE SAID NOT THIS [IS] EXCEPT <IF> [THE] SWORD OF GIDEON [THE] SON OF JOASH A MAN OF ISRAEL HE HAS GIVEN <THE> GOD IN HAND HIS <OBJ.> MIDIAN AND <OBJ.> ALL THE ARMY 14His friend replied: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”
15AND IT WAS WHEN HEARD GIDEON <OBJ.> [THE] RECOUNTING OF THE DREAM AND <OBJ.> INTERPRETATION ITS AND HE BOWED DOWN AND HE RETURNED TO [THE] CAMP OF ISRAEL AND HE SAID ARISE FOR HE HAS GIVEN YAHWEH IN HAND YOUR <OBJ.> [THE] CAMP OF MIDIAN Gideon Defeats Midian 15When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”
16AND HE DIVIDED <OBJ.> THREE HUNDRED<S> THE MAN THREE COMPANIES AND HE PUT TRUMPETS IN [THE] HAND OF ALL OF THEM AND JARS EMPTY AND TORCHES IN [THE] MIDST OF THE JARS 16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.*NoteCloseLiterally and put rams’ horns and empty jars—large jars with torches inside—into the hand of all
17AND HE SAID TO THEM FROM ME YOU WILL SEE AND THUS YOU WILL DO AND HERE! I [WILL BE] COMING IN [THE] EDGE OF THE CAMP AND IT WILL BE JUST AS I WILL DO SO YOU WILL DO! 17“Watch me and do as I do,” Gideon said. “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do exactly as I do.
18AND I WILL GIVE A BLAST ON THE TRUMPET I AND ALL WHO [ARE] WITH ME AND YOU WILL GIVE A BLAST ON THE TRUMPETS ALSO YOU ALL AROUND ALL THE CAMP AND YOU WILL SAY FOR YAHWEH AND FOR GIDEON 18When I and all who are with me blow our horns, then you are also to blow your horns from all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”
19AND HE WENT GIDEON AND ONE HUNDRED MAN WHO [WERE] WITH HIM IN [THE] EDGE OF THE CAMP [THE] BEGINNING OF THE WATCH <THE> MIDDLE JUST AS CERTAINLY <TO STATION> THEY HAD STATIONED <OBJ.> THE WATCHMEN AND THEY GAVE A BLAST ON THE TRUMPETS AND THEY SMASHED THE JARS WHICH [WERE] IN HAND THEIR 19Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.
20AND THEY GAVE A BLAST [THE] THREE THE COMPANIES ON THE TRUMPETS AND THEY BROKE THE JARS AND THEY TOOK HOLD IN [THE] HAND OF LEFT THEIR ON THE TORCHES AND IN [THE] HAND OF RIGHT THEIR THE TRUMPETS TO GIVE A BLAST AND THEY CALLED OUT A SWORD FOR YAHWEH AND FOR GIDEON 20The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”
21AND THEY STOOD EVERYONE IN PLACE HIS ROUND ABOUT <TO> THE CAMP AND IT RAN ALL THE ARMY AND THEY SHOUTED IN DISTRESS AND THEY FLED 21Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran.
22AND THEY GAVE A BLAST [THE] THREE <THE> HUNDRED<S> THE TRUMPETS AND HE SET YAHWEH <OBJ.> [THE] SWORD OF EACH ON NEIGHBOR HIS AND ON ALL THE ARMY AND IT FLED THE ARMY TO BETH <OF THE> SHITTAH TOWARDS ZERERAH TO [THE] BORDER OF ABEL MEHOLAH AT TABBATH 22And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah*NoteCloseSome Hebrew manuscripts Zeredah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
23AND IT WAS SUMMONED [THE] MAN OF ISRAEL FROM NAPHTALI AND FROM ASHER AND FROM ALL MANASSEH AND THEY PURSUED AFTER MIDIAN 23Then the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.
24AND MESSENGERS HE SENT GIDEON IN ALL [THE] HILL COUNTRY OF EPHRAIM <TO> SAYING COME DOWN TO MEET MIDIAN AND CAPTURE TO <THE> THEM <OBJ.> THE WATERS TO BETH BARAH AND <OBJ.> THE JORDAN AND HE WAS SUMMONED EVERY <THE> MAN OF EPHRAIM AND THEY CAPTURED <OBJ.> THE WATERS TO BETH BARAH AND <OBJ.> THE JORDAN 24Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.
25AND THEY CAPTURED [THE] TWO [THE] COMMANDERS OF MIDIAN <OBJ.> OREB AND <OBJ.> ZEEB AND THEY KILLED <OBJ.> OREB AT [THE] ROCK OF OREB AND <OBJ.> ZEEB THEY KILLED AT [THE] WINEPRESS OF ZEEB AND THEY PURSUED <TO> MIDIAN AND [THE] HEAD OF OREB AND ZEEB THEY BROUGHT TO GIDEON FROM [THE] OTHER SIDE OF THE JORDAN 25They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. So they pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.