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士师记 7
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)

基甸打败米甸人

7 耶路·巴力，也就是基甸，清早起来，率领众人在哈律泉旁扎营，米甸人的军营在他们北边靠近摩利山的谷中。

2 耶和华对基甸说：“你的人太多了，我不能把米甸人交在你们手中，免得以色列人以为是靠自己的力量救了自己。 3 你要向他们宣布，胆小害怕的人可以离开基列山回家。”结果两万二千人离去，只剩下一万人。

4 但耶和华对基甸说：“人还是太多，你带他们到下面的泉水边，我会在那里为你挑选人员。” 5 于是，基甸把他们带到泉水边，耶和华对他说：“把像狗一样用舌头舔水喝的和跪着喝水的分开。” 6 那时有三百人捧水舔着喝，其余的都跪着喝。 7 耶和华对基甸说：“我要用这三百舔水喝的人拯救你们，我要把米甸人交在你手中。让其余的人都回家吧。” 8 于是，基甸留下这三百人，把其余人的食物和号角收集起来，让他们回家。米甸人的军营就在他们下面的山谷里。

9 当天晚上，耶和华吩咐基甸说：“起来，下去攻打敌营吧！我已把敌人交在你手中了。 10 如果你害怕，可以和你的仆人普拉一起下到敌营， 11 听听他们说什么，你就有胆量攻打敌营了。”于是，基甸就带着仆人普拉下到敌营旁。 12 米甸人、亚玛力人及东方人像蝗虫一样布满山谷，他们的骆驼如海边的沙一样不计其数。 13 基甸到了那里，听见一个人对同伴说：“我做了个梦，梦见一个大麦饼滚进我们的营中，把一个帐篷撞翻在地。” 14 他的同伴说：“那不是别的，正是以色列人约阿施的儿子基甸的刀，上帝把米甸人和整个军营都交在他手中了。”

15 基甸听了这梦和梦的解释，就俯伏敬拜上帝。他回到以色列人的营中，大声喊道：“起来吧，耶和华已经把米甸军营交在你们手中了。” 16 基甸把三百人分成三队，分给他们号角和藏有火把的瓦瓶， 17 对他们说：“你们要看我的行动，当我们走到敌营旁边时，我怎么做，你们也要怎么做。 18 我们这队吹响号角时，你们也要在敌营四周吹响号角，高喊，‘为了耶和华！为了基甸！’”

19 午夜初，守卫刚换班，基甸带着一百人来到米甸营旁。他们吹响号角，打破手中的瓦瓶。 20 其余的二百人也吹响号角，打破瓦瓶。他们左手举着火把，右手拿着号角，高喊：“为耶和华和基甸而战！” 21 他们在敌营周围各守其位，米甸全军边喊边逃。 22 基甸的三百人一起吹响号角时，耶和华使米甸人自相残杀。他们逃往西利拉的伯·哈示他，一直逃到靠近他巴的亚伯·米何拉的边境。

23 基甸号召拿弗他利、亚设和玛拿西的以色列人追杀米甸败军， 24 又派人到整个以法莲山区，吩咐当地人攻打米甸人，占据远至伯·巴拉一带的约旦河渡口。以法莲人都依言而行， 25 还生擒了米甸人的两名首领俄立和西伊伯。他们在俄立磐石上杀死了俄立，在西伊伯榨酒池杀了西伊伯。他们继续追杀米甸人，并带着俄立和西伊伯的人头穿过约旦河，交给基甸。

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Judges 7
New English Translation

Gideon Reduces the Ranks

7 Jerub Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men[a] got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod.[b] The Midianites[c] were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you.[d] Israel might brag,[e] ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’[f] 3 Now, announce to the men,[g] ‘Whoever is shaking with fear[h] may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’”[i] 22,000 men[j] went home;[k] 10,000 remained. 4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men.[l] Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more.[m] When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go;[n] when I say,[o] ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.”[p] 5 So he brought the men[q] down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.”[r] 6 Only 300 men lapped with their hands to their mouths;[s] the rest of the men[t] kneeled to drink water. 7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will deliver the whole army[u] and I will hand Midian over to you.[v] The rest of the men should go home.”[w] 8 The men[x] who were chosen[y] took supplies[z] and their trumpets. Gideon[aa] sent all the men of Israel back to their homes;[ab] he kept only 300 men. Now the Midianites[ac] were camped down below[ad] in the valley.

Gideon Reassured of Victory

9 That night the Lord said to Gideon,[ae] “Get up! Attack[af] the camp, for I am handing it over to you.[ag] 10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant 11 and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave[ah] and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp.[ai] 12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts.[aj] Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had.[ak] The man[al] said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw[am] a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.”[an] 14 The other man said,[ao] “Without a doubt this symbolizes[ap] the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

Gideon Routs the Enemy

15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God.[aq] Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!” 16 He divided the 300 men into three units.[ar] He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them.[as] 17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely![at] I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do! 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

19 Gideon took 100 men to the edge of the camp[au] at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying.[av] 20 All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right.[aw] Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 They stood in order[ax] all around the camp. The whole Midianite[ay] army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away.[az] 22 When the 300 men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords[ba] throughout[bb] the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went[bc] to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites.[bd]

Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites

24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites.[be] Take control of the fords of the streams[bf] all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.”[bg] When all the Ephraimites had assembled,[bh] they took control of the fords[bi] all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River. 25 They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb.[bj] They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb[bk] in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites[bl] and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River.[bm]

Footnotes

  1. Judges 7:1 tn Heb “and all the people who were with him.”
  2. Judges 7:1 sn The name Harod means, ironically, “trembling.”
  3. Judges 7:1 tn Heb “Midian.” The LXX reads “and Amalek” (cf. v. 12; 6:33).
  4. Judges 7:2 tn Heb “the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand.”
  5. Judges 7:2 tn Heb “might glorify itself against me.”
  6. Judges 7:2 tn Heb “my hand has delivered me.”
  7. Judges 7:3 tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”
  8. Judges 7:3 tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”
  9. Judges 7:3 tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading “and leave Mount Gilead” for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, “So Gideon tested them” (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).
  10. Judges 7:3 tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)
  11. Judges 7:3 tn Or “turned around, back.”
  12. Judges 7:4 tn Heb “too many people.”
  13. Judges 7:4 tn Heb “test them for you there.”
  14. Judges 7:4 tn Heb “he should go with you.”
  15. Judges 7:4 tn Heb also has “about anyone to you.”
  16. Judges 7:4 tn Heb “he should not go.”
  17. Judges 7:5 tn Heb “the people.”
  18. Judges 7:5 tn Heb “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, put him by himself, as well as the one who gets down on his knees to drink.”
  19. Judges 7:6 tc The Hebrew phrase, “with their hands to their mouths.” is difficult in light of v. 5, which distinguishes between dog-like lappers (who would not use their hands to drink) and those who kneel (who would presumably use their hands). The words “with their hands to their mouths” may have been misplaced. They fit better at the end of v. 5 or v. 6. Perhaps these words were originally a marginal scribal note which was later accidentally inserted into the text in the wrong place. But on the other hand since the 300 men were the men selected for the army, lapping with their hands to their mouth would allow them to see their surroundings which would be a good procedure for a soldier. The kneelers were sent away presumably because they made themselves more vulnerable to enemy attack.
  20. Judges 7:6 tn Heb “the people.”
  21. Judges 7:7 tn Heb “you.” The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.
  22. Judges 7:7 tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.
  23. Judges 7:7 tn Heb “All the people should go, each to his place.”
  24. Judges 7:8 tn Heb “The people.”
  25. Judges 7:8 tn The words “who were chosen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  26. Judges 7:8 tn The Hebrew text has “in their hands.”
  27. Judges 7:8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  28. Judges 7:8 tn Heb “tents.”
  29. Judges 7:8 tn Heb “Midian.”
  30. Judges 7:8 tn The Hebrew text adds “him” (i.e., Gideon).
  31. Judges 7:9 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  32. Judges 7:9 tn Heb “Go down against.”
  33. Judges 7:9 tn The Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, emphasizing the certainty of the promise.
  34. Judges 7:11 tn Heb “your hands will be strengthened.”
  35. Judges 7:11 tn Heb “to the edge of the ones in battle array who were in the camp.”
  36. Judges 7:12 tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east were falling in the valley like locusts in great number.”
  37. Judges 7:13 tn Heb “And Gideon came, and, look, a man was relating to his friend a dream.”
  38. Judges 7:13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  39. Judges 7:13 tn Heb “Look!” The repetition of this interjection, while emphatic in Hebrew, would be redundant in the English translation.
  40. Judges 7:13 tn Heb “It came to the tent and struck it and it fell. It turned it upside down and the tent fell.”
  41. Judges 7:14 tn Heb “answered and said.”
  42. Judges 7:14 tn Heb “This can be nothing but.”
  43. Judges 7:15 tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”
  44. Judges 7:16 tn Heb “heads.”
  45. Judges 7:16 tn Heb “the jars.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“them”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.sn They hid the torches inside the earthenware jars to disguise their approach and to keep the torches from being extinguished by the breeze.
  46. Judges 7:17 tn Or “look.”
  47. Judges 7:19 tn Heb “Gideon went, along with the 100 men who were with him, to the edge of the camp.”
  48. Judges 7:19 tn Heb “that were in their hands.”
  49. Judges 7:20 tn The Hebrew text adds, “in order to blow [them].” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  50. Judges 7:21 tn Heb “each in his place.”
  51. Judges 7:21 tn “Midianite” has been supplied here for clarity.
  52. Judges 7:21 tn Or “fled.”
  53. Judges 7:22 tn Heb “the Lord set the sword of each one against his friend.”
  54. Judges 7:22 tc MT has “and throughout the camp,” but the conjunction (“and”) is due to dittography and should be dropped. Compare the ancient versions, which lack the conjunction here.
  55. Judges 7:22 tn The words “they went” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  56. Judges 7:23 tn Heb “Midian.”
  57. Judges 7:24 tn Heb “to meet Midian.”
  58. Judges 7:24 tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”
  59. Judges 7:24 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).
  60. Judges 7:24 tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”
  61. Judges 7:24 tn Heb “they captured the waters.”
  62. Judges 7:25 sn The names Oreb and Zeeb, which mean “Raven” and “Wolf” respectively, are appropriate because the Midianites had been like scavengers and predators to Israel.
  63. Judges 7:25 tn The Hebrew text repeats the verb “executed.” This has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  64. Judges 7:25 tn Heb “Midian.”
  65. Judges 7:25 tn Heb “beyond the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity (also in 8:4).
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