Judges 6:28-8:5

New King James Version

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

²⁸ And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you ^[a]plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!” ³² Therefore on that day he called him ^(A)Jerubbaal,^[b] saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

³³ Then all ^(B)the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in ^(C)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ But ^(D)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he ^(E)blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. ³⁵ And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to ^(F)Asher, ^(G)Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

³⁶ So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— ^37 (H)look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, ^(I)“Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” ⁴⁰ And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

Gideon’s Valiant Three Hundred

7 Then ^(J)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 ^(K)claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ ³ Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ^(L)‘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, ^(M)“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 ^[c]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 ^(N)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 ^(O)hear what they say; and afterward ^[d]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, ^(P)all the people of the East, were lying in the valley ^(Q)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were ^[e]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 ^(R)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!’ ”

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 ^(S)every man stood in his place all around the camp; ^(T)and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. ²² When the three hundred ^(U)blew the trumpets, ^(V)the Lord set ^(W)every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to ^[f]Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of ^(X)Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

²³ And the men of Israel gathered together from ^(Y)Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the ^(Z)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 ^(AA)seized the watering places as far as ^(AB)Beth Barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ And they captured ^(AC)two princes of the Midianites, ^(AD)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 ^(AE)other side of the Jordan.

Gideon Subdues the Midianites

8 Now ^(AF)the men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?” And they reprimanded him sharply.

² So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the ^[g]gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than ^[h]the vintage of ^(AG)Abiezer? ^3 (AH)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 ^(AI)anger toward him subsided when he said that.

⁴ When Gideon came ^(AJ)to the Jordan, he and ^(AK)the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit. ⁵ Then he said to the men of ^(AL)Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”