Judges 6:33-7:15

21st Century King James Version

³³ Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the East were gathered together, and went over and pitched camp in the Valley of Jezreel.

³⁴ But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and the Abiezrites were gathered after him.

³⁵ And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also were gathered after him; and he sent messengers unto Asher and unto Zebulun and unto Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

³⁶ And Gideon said unto God, “If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said—

³⁷ behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said.”

³⁸ And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

³⁹ And Gideon said unto God, “Let not Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once. Let me prove, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece: Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.”

⁴⁰ And God did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

7 Then Jerubbaal (who is Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose up early and pitched camp beside the well of Harod, so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

² And the Lord said unto Gideon, “The people who are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, ‘Mine own hand hath saved me.’

³ Now therefore go, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead.’” And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand, and there remained ten thousand.

⁴ And the Lord said unto Gideon, “The people are yet too many. Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, ‘This shall go with thee,’ the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, ‘This shall not go with thee,’ the same shall not go.”

⁵ So he brought down the people unto the water; and the Lord said unto Gideon, “Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon 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 bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

⁷ And the Lord said unto Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you and deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people go every man unto his place.”

⁸ So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

⁹ And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, “Arise, get thee down unto the host, for I have delivered it into thine hand.

¹⁰ But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Purah thy servant down to the host,

¹¹ and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.” Then went he down with Purah his servant unto the outside of the armed men who were in the host.

¹² And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the East lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seaside for multitude.

¹³ And when Gideon had come, behold, there was a man who told a dream unto his fellow, and said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream; and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian and came unto a tent, and smote it so that it fell, and overturned it so that the tent lay flat.”

¹⁴ And his fellow answered and said, “This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel, for into his hand hath God delivered Midian and all the host.”

¹⁵ And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof, that he worshiped, and returned into the host of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.”