Judges 7:19-21

Contemporary English Version

¹⁹Gideon and his group reached the edge of the enemy camp a few hours after dark, just after the new guards had come on duty.^[a] Gideon and his soldiers blew their trumpets and smashed the clay jars that were hiding the torches. ²⁰The rest of Gideon's soldiers blew the trumpets they were holding in their right hands. Then they smashed the jars and held the burning torches in their left hands. Everyone shouted, “Fight with your swords for the Lord and for Gideon!”

²¹The enemy soldiers started yelling and tried to run away. Gideon's troops stayed in their positions surrounding the camp

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Footnotes

7.19 a few hours after dark, just … duty: The Hebrew text has “at the beginning of the second watch, just … duty.” The night was divided into three periods called “watches,” each about four hours long, and different guards would come on duty at the beginning of each watch. The first watch began at sunset, so the beginning of the second watch would have been shortly after 10:00 p.m.