Judges 7:1-8

New American Standard Bible

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.

²And 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.’ ³Now 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.” ⁵So 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.” ⁶Now 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. ⁷And 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.” ⁸So ^[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.

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Footnotes

Judges 7:1 Or En-Harod
Judges 7:1 Lit him
Judges 7:2 Lit boast against me
Judges 7:2 Lit hand
Judges 7:5 Lit by himself
Judges 7:6 Lit with their
Judges 7:7 Lit place
Judges 7:8 Lit they took
Judges 7:8 Lit he

Judges 7:1-8

New King James Version

Gideon’s Valiant Three Hundred

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

²And 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 ^(B)claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ ³Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ^(C)‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

⁴But 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. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.” ⁵So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” ⁶And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. ⁷Then the Lord said to Gideon, ^(D)“By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his ^[a]place.” ⁸So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.