¹² Now the Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the ^[a]people of the east were lying in the valley ^(A)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^(B)as numerous as the sand on the seashore. ¹³ When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I ^[b]had a dream; ^[c]a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it ^[d]upside down so that the tent collapsed.” ¹⁴ And his friend replied, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has ^(C)handed over to him Midian and all the camp.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has handed over to you the camp of Midian!” ¹⁶ And he divided the three hundred men into three ^[e]units, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ Then he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, ^[f]do as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets around the entire camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

Confusion of the Enemy

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle night watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰ When the three ^[g]units 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 shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ And each stood in his place around the camp; and ^(D)all the ^[h]army ran, crying out as they fled. ²² And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the ^(E)Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire ^[i]army; and the ^[j]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^(F)Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

¹² So then, my beloved, ^(A)just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own ^(B)salvation with ^(C)fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is ^(D)God who is at work in you, both to ^[a]desire and to work ^(E)for His good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without ^(F)complaining or arguments; ¹⁵ so that you will ^[b]prove yourselves to be ^(G)blameless and innocent, ^(H)children of God above reproach in the midst of a ^(I)crooked and perverse generation, among whom you ^[c](J)appear as ^[d]lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding firmly the word of life, so that on ^(K)the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not ^(L)run in vain nor ^(M)labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being ^(N)poured out as a drink offering upon ^(O)the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. ¹⁸ You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.