Gideon’s Three Hundred Chosen Men

7 Then ^(A)Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up 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 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, ^(C)otherwise Israel would ^[c]become boastful, saying, ‘My own ^[d]power has saved me.’ ³ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^(D)Whoever is afraid and worried, is to return and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand 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. So 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. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall put everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps ^[e]in one group, and everyone who kneels down to drink in another.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped, ^[f]putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water. ⁷ And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you ^(F)with the three hundred men who lapped, and will hand the Midianites over to you; so have all the other people go, each man to his ^[g]home.” ⁸ So ^[h]the three hundred men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And ^[i]Gideon dismissed all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁷ But we have this treasure in ^[a](A)earthen containers, so that the extraordinary greatness of ^(B)the power will be of God and not from ourselves; ⁸ we are ^(C)afflicted in every way, but not ^(D)crushed; ^(E)perplexed, but not despairing; ^9 (F)persecuted, but not ^(G)abandoned; ^(H)struck down, but not destroyed; ^10 (I)always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that ^(J)the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are constantly being handed over to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death works in us, but life in you.

¹³ But having the same ^(K)spirit of faith, according to what is written: “^(L)I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who ^(M)raised the Lord Jesus ^(N)will also raise us with Jesus, and will ^(O)present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are ^(P)for your sakes, so that grace, having ^[b](Q)spread to more and more people, will cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we ^(R)do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our ^(S)inner person is ^(T)being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary, ^(U)light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we ^(V)look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.