Gideon’s 300 Chosen Men

7 Then ^(A)Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside ^[a]the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of ^[b]them by the hill of ^(B)Moreh in the valley.

² The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, ^(C)for Israel ^[c]would become boastful, saying, ‘My own ^[d]power has delivered me.’ ³ Now therefore ^[e]come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^(D)Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.

^4 (E)Then 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. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. ⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you ^(F)with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his ^[f]home.” ⁸ So ^[g]the 300 men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And ^[h]Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, ^(G)for I have given it into your hands. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, ¹¹ and you will hear what they say; and ^(H)afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant down to the ^[i]outposts of the army that was in the camp. ¹² Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley ^(I)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^(J)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 ^[j]had a dream; ^[k]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 ^[l]upside down so that the tent lay flat.” ¹⁴ His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp ^(K)into his hand.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” ¹⁶ He divided the 300 men into three ^[m]companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ He said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, ^[n]do as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the 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 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 ^[o]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 cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ Each stood in his place around the camp; and ^(L)all the ^[p]army ran, crying out as they fled. ²² When they blew 300 trumpets, the ^(M)Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole ^[q]army; and the ^[r]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^(N)Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ²³ The men of Israel were summoned from ^(O)Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴ Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down ^[s]against Midian and ^(P)take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ They captured the two leaders of Midian, ^(Q)Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon ^(R)from across the Jordan.

Zebah and Zalmunna Routed

8 Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “^(S)What is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him vigorously. ² But he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? ³ God has given the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their ^[t]anger toward him subsided when he said ^[u]that.

⁴ Then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came ^(T)to the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing. ⁵ He said to the men of ^(U)Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶ The leaders of Succoth said, “^[v](V)Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷ Gideon said, “^[w]All right, ^(W)when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will ^[x]thrash your ^[y]bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸ He went up from there to ^[z](X)Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I return safely, ^(Y)I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their ^[aa]armies with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire ^[ab]army of the sons of the east; ^(Z)for the fallen were 120,000 ^[ac]swordsmen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and ^[ad]attacked the camp when the camp was ^[ae]unsuspecting. ¹² When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole ^[af]army.

¹³ Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle ^[ag]by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ And he captured a youth ^[ah]from Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, ‘^[ai](AA)Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’” ¹⁶ He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he ^[aj]disciplined the men of Succoth with them. ^17 (AB)He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” And they said, “They were like you, each one ^[ak]resembling the son of a king.” ¹⁹ He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them.” But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise up yourself, and fall on us; for as the man, so is his strength.” ^(AC)So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and ^(AD)took the crescent ornaments which were on their camels’ necks.

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” ²³ But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; ^(AE)the Lord shall rule over you.” ²⁴ Yet Gideon said to them, “I would ^[al]request of you, that each of you give me ^[am]an earring from his spoil.” (For they had gold earrings, because they were ^(AF)Ishmaelites.) ²⁵ They said, “We will surely give them.” So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. ²⁶ The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Gideon made it into ^(AG)an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Forty Years of Peace

²⁸ So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon.

²⁹ Then ^(AH)Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. ³⁰ Now Gideon had ^(AI)seventy sons who ^[an]were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. ³¹ His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he ^[ao]named him Abimelech. ³² And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, ^(AJ)that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made ^(AK)Baal-berith their god. ³⁴ Thus the sons of Israel ^(AL)did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; ^35 (AM)nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 And ^(A)Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s ^[a]relatives, and spoke to them and to the whole clan of the household of his mother’s father, saying, ² “Speak, now, in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that ^(B)seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am ^(C)your bone and your flesh.” ³ And his mother’s ^[b]relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem; and ^[c]they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is ^(D)our ^[d]relative.” ⁴ They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of ^(E)Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, and they followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and ^(F)killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, ^(G)seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. ⁶ All the men of Shechem and all ^[e]Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the ^[f]oak of the pillar which was in Shechem.

⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on the top of ^(H)Mount Gerizim, and lifted his voice and called out. Thus he said to them, “Listen to me, O men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my fatness with ^[g]which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come, reign over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good ^[h]fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come, reign over us!’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my new wine, which cheers God and men, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Finally all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come, reign over us!’ ¹⁵ The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in ^[i]truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now therefore, if you have dealt in ^[j]truth and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(I)Jerubbaal and his house, and ^[k]have dealt with him ^[l]as he deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you and ^[m]risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸ but you have risen against my father’s house today and have killed ^(J)his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, ^(K)the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your ^[n]relative— ¹⁹ if then you have dealt in ^[o]truth and integrity with Jerubbaal and his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the men of Shechem and ^[p]Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from ^[q]Beth-millo, and consume Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer and remained there because of Abimelech his brother.