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Gideon Routs the Enemy

15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God.[a] Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!” 16 He divided the 300 men into three units.[b] He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them.[c] 17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely![d] I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do! 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

19 Gideon took 100 men to the edge of the camp[e] at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying.[f] 20 All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right.[g] Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 They stood in order[h] all around the camp. The whole Midianite[i] army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away.[j] 22 When the 300 men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords[k] throughout[l] the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went[m] to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites.[n]

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 7:15 tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”
  2. Judges 7:16 tn Heb “heads.”
  3. Judges 7:16 tn Heb “the jars.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“them”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.sn They hid the torches inside the earthenware jars to disguise their approach and to keep the torches from being extinguished by the breeze.
  4. Judges 7:17 tn Or “look.”
  5. Judges 7:19 tn Heb “Gideon went, along with the 100 men who were with him, to the edge of the camp.”
  6. Judges 7:19 tn Heb “that were in their hands.”
  7. Judges 7:20 tn The Hebrew text adds, “in order to blow [them].” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  8. Judges 7:21 tn Heb “each in his place.”
  9. Judges 7:21 tn “Midianite” has been supplied here for clarity.
  10. Judges 7:21 tn Or “fled.”
  11. Judges 7:22 tn Heb “the Lord set the sword of each one against his friend.”
  12. Judges 7:22 tc MT has “and throughout the camp,” but the conjunction (“and”) is due to dittography and should be dropped. Compare the ancient versions, which lack the conjunction here.
  13. Judges 7:22 tn The words “they went” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  14. Judges 7:23 tn Heb “Midian.”

15 When Gideon heard the recounting of the dream[a] and its interpretation, he bowed down and returned to the camp of Israel; and he said, “Get up, for Yahweh has given the camp of Midian into your hand.” 16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies,[b] and he put trumpets and empty jars in everyone’s hand, with torches inside the jars. 17 And he said to them, “Watch me and do the same. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do.[c] 18 When I and all who are with me blow on the trumpet, you must also blow on the trumpets and surround the camp, and you must say, ‘To Yahweh and to Gideon!’”

19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle night-watch, when they had just finished setting up the guards, and they blew on the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.[d] 20 When three companies[e] blew on the trumpets and broke the jars, they held in their left hand the torches and in their right hand the trumpets for blowing, and they cried, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!” 21 And each stood in his place[f] all around the camp, and all the camp ran, and they cried out as they fled. 22 When they blew the three hundred trumpets, Yahweh set the sword of each one against his neighbor throughout the whole camp, and the camp[g] fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, up to Abel Meholah, the border by Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all of Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 7:15 Or “telling of the dream”
  2. Judges 7:16 Or “divisions”
  3. Judges 7:17 Literally “just as I will do, you must do”
  4. Judges 7:19 Hebrew “hand”
  5. Judges 7:20 Or “divisions”
  6. Judges 7:21 Literally “under him”
  7. Judges 7:22 Or “army”