Judges 7:12-22

New American Standard Bible 1995

¹² Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley ^(A)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^(B)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 ^[a]had a dream; ^[b]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 ^[c]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 ^(C)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 ^[d]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, ^[e]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 ^[f]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 ^(D)all the ^[g]army ran, crying out as they fled. ²² When they blew 300 trumpets, the ^(E)Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole ^[h]army; and the ^[i]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^(F)Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.