Judges 7:1 Jerubbaal also known as Gideon, took all of his men and got up early the next morning and they put up their tents near the well of Harod. The camp of the Midianite soldiers was on the hill of Moreh in the valley north of Gideon’s camp.
Judges 7:2 The Lord said to Gideon: You have too many men with you. If I the LORD, help them defeat the Midianite men, then the Israelites will boast and say that they have saved themselves.
Judges 7:3 So make an announcement to your men. Tell them, Anyone who is afraid may leave Mount Gilead and go back home. At that time 22,000 men left Gideon and went back home, but 10,000 still remained.
Judges 7:4 Then the Lord said to Gideon: There are still too many men with you. Take them down to the water, and I will choose who must stay. I will tell you who can go with you and who can not go with you.
Judges 7:5 So Gideon led the men down to the water. There the Lord said to him, Separate the men like this: Those who drink the water by using their tongue to lap it up like a dog will be in one group. And those who bend down to drink will be in the other group.
Judges 7:6 There were 300 men who used their hands to bring water to their mouth and lapped it like a dog does. All the other people bent down and drank the water
Judges 7:7 The Lord said to Gideon, I will use the 300 men who lapped the water like a dog. I will use them to save you, and I will allow you to defeat the Midianites. Let the other men go home
Judges 7:8 So Gideon sent the other men of Israel home. He kept the 300 men with him. Those 300 men kept the supplies and the trumpets of the other men who went home. The camp of the Midianite soldiers was in the valley lower than the camp of Gideon.
Judges 7:9 That night the Lord said to Gideon: You must attack the camp of the Midianite soldiers. I will help you defeat them.
Judges 7:10 But if you are afraid to attack them, then take your servant, Phurah, with you
Judges 7:11 Listen to what the Midianite soldiers say, and then you will no longer be afraid to attack them. Gideon and Phurah went to the side of the camp.
Judges 7:12 The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the other people from the east were camped in that valley. There were so many people that were like grasshoppers. It seemed like they had as many camels as there are grains of sand on the seashore
Judges 7:13 When Gideon got to the camp, a man was telling his friend what he had dreamed. He said: I dreamed I saw a round loaf of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It rolled up to our tent and hit our tent so hard that it fell to the ground and the bread rolled over it.
Judges 7:14 The man’s friend said: This means that the Israelite Gideon, son of Joash, is coming to fight against us and God will help him win. He will defeat the Midianites and all the soldiers in this camp.
Judges 7:15 When Gideon heard what they said about the dream and what it meant, he bowed and praised the Lord. He went back to the camp of Israel and said: Come, the Lord will help you defeat the army of Midian.
Judges 7:16 Gideon divided his 300 men into 3 groups. He gave each man a trumpet and a jar with a torch in it.
Judges 7:17 Gideon told the men of Israel: Look at me, and when we come near the camp, you must do the same as I do.
Judges 7:18 When I and all the men with me blow the trumpet, you must also blow your trumpet around the Midianite camp, and you must shout: Make war for the Lord and for Gideon.
Judges 7:19 Gideon and the 100 men with him got to the Midianite camp in the middle of the night when a new group of guards took their places. Gideon and his men blew their trumpets, and they broke their jars
Judges 7:20 Then all three groups of Gideon’s men blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. The men held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands. As they blew their trumpets, they shouted, A sword for the Lord and a sword for Gideon
Judges 7:21 Gideon’s men stood still around the camp of the Midianites but the soldiers in the camp were shouting and running away.
Judges 7:22 When Gideon’s 300 men blew their trumpets, the Lord made the Midianite soldiers kill one another. They fled to the town of BethShittah near Zererath and to the border of the land from the town AbelMeholah near Tabbath.
Judges 7:23 Then Gideon called more Israelite men from the Naphtali tribe, the Asher tribe and the Manasseh tribe. They came and they chased the Midianite soldiers:
Judges 7:24 Gideon also sent messengers to the people of the Ephraim tribe in the mountains. He told them to catch the Midianite people before they went over the Jordan River, as far as the town of Beth-Barah. These Israelite men came and they did what Gideon asked.
Judges 7:25 They caught the 2 generals of the Midianite soldiers. Their names were Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb and named the place Oreb-Rock and they killed Zeeb and named that place Zeeb Wine-press. After they had chased the soldiers of Midian, they took the heads of Oreb and Zeeb and they gave them to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan River.