7 Then Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

² The Lord said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel boast about themselves against Me, saying, My own hand has delivered me.

³ So now proclaim in the ears of the men, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him turn back and depart from Mount Gilead. And 22,000 of the men returned, but 10,000 remained.

⁴ And the Lord said to Gideon, The men are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And he of whom I say to you, This man shall go with you, shall go with you; and he of whom I say to you, This man shall not go with you, shall not go.

⁵ So he brought the men down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps up the water with his tongue as a dog laps it, you shall set by himself, likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink.

⁶ And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

⁷ And the Lord said to Gideon, With the 300 men who lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others return every man to his home.

⁸ So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands, and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his home and retained those 300 men. And the host of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ That same night the Lord said to Gideon, Arise, go down against their camp, for I have given it into your hand.

¹⁰ But if you fear to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp

¹¹ And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the camp of the armed men.

¹² And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east lay along the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand on the seashore for multitude.

¹³ When Gideon arrived, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of ^[a]barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.

¹⁴ And his comrade replied, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has given Midian and all the host.

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped and returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given into your hand the host of Midian.

¹⁶ And he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets and empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers.

¹⁷ And he said to them, Look at me, then do likewise. When I come to the edge of their camp, do as I do.

¹⁸ When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, For the Lord and for Gideon!

¹⁹ So Gideon and the 100 men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when the guards had just been changed, and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.

²⁰ And the three companies blew the trumpets and shattered the pitchers, holding the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow [leaving no chance to use swords], and they cried, The sword for the Lord and Gideon!

²¹ They stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the [Midianite] army ran—they cried out and fled.

²² When [Gideon’s men] blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every [Midianite’s] sword against his comrade and against all the army, and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.

²³ And the men of Israel were called together out of Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

4 For behold, the day comes that shall burn like an oven, and all the proud and arrogant, yes, and all that do wickedly and are lawless, shall be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.^(A)

² But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.

³ And you shall tread down the lawless and wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of hosts.

⁴ [Earnestly] remember the law of Moses, My servant, the statutes and the ordinances which I commanded him on [Mount] Horeb [to give] to all Israel.

⁵ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.^(B)

⁶ And he shall turn and reconcile the hearts of the [estranged] fathers to the [ungodly] children, and the hearts of the [rebellious] children to [the piety of] their fathers [a reconciliation produced by repentance of the ungodly], lest I come and smite the land with a curse and a ban of utter destruction.^(C)

² Now when John in prison heard about the activities of Christ, he sent a message by his disciples

³ And asked Him, Are You the One Who was to come, or should we keep on expecting a different one?^(A)

⁴ And Jesus replied to them, Go and report to John what you hear and see:

⁵ The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed (by healing) and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have good news (the Gospel) preached to them.^(B)

⁶ And blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[a]to be envied) is he who takes no offense at Me and finds no cause for stumbling in or through Me and is not hindered from seeing the Truth.

⁷ Then as these men went their way, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: What did you go out in the wilderness (desert) to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

⁸ What did you go out to see then? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in the houses of kings.

⁹ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one [^[b]out of the common, more eminent, more remarkable, and] ^[c]superior to a prophet.

¹⁰ This is the one of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, who shall make ready Your way before You.^(C)

¹¹ Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹² And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize—a ^[d]share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].

¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied up until John.

¹⁴ And if you are willing to receive and accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come [before the kingdom].^(D)

¹⁵ He who has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him consider and ^[e]perceive and comprehend by hearing.

¹⁶ But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like little children sitting in the marketplaces who call to their playmates,

¹⁷ We piped to you [playing wedding], and you did not dance; we wailed dirges [playing funeral], and you did not mourn and beat your breasts and weep aloud.

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking [with others], and they say, He has a demon!

¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking [with others], and they say, Behold, a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and [^[f]especially wicked] sinners! Yet wisdom is justified and vindicated by what she does (her deeds) and by ^[g]her children.