Deuteronomy 20:3-4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 and say to them, “Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies. Do not be weakhearted or afraid, alarmed or frightened by them. 4 For it is the Lord, your God, who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and give you victory.”(A)
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Judges 7:2-3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 The Lord said to Gideon: You have too many soldiers with you for me to deliver Midian into their power, lest Israel vaunt itself against me and say, “My own power saved me.”[a](A) 3 So announce in the hearing of the soldiers, “If anyone is afraid or fearful, let him leave!(B) Let him depart from Mount Gilead!”[b] Twenty-two thousand of the soldiers left, but ten thousand remained.
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- 7:2 My own power saved me: Deuteronomic theology constantly warns Israel against attributing success to their own efforts; cf. Dt 6:10–12; 8:17.
- 7:3 Mount Gilead: since the well-known highlands of Gilead were east of the Jordan River, some other hill of Gilead must be intended here. Perhaps its name is preserved in Ain Jalud (or Galud), the modern Arabic name of the spring of Harod, where Gideon’s army is encamped (v. 1). The narrator plays on the Hebrew word “fearful” (hared) and the name of the spring, harod.
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