⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands.^(A) Let all the others go home.”^{(B) 8} So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

¹⁶ Dividing the three hundred men^(A) into three companies,^(B) he placed trumpets^(C) and empty jars^(D) in the hands of all of them, with torches^(E) inside.

¹⁷ “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets,^(F) then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

¹⁹ Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars^(G) that were in their hands. ²⁰ The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches^(H) in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword^(I) for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.^(J)

²² When the three hundred trumpets sounded,^(K) the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other^(L) with their swords.^(M) The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah^(N) near Tabbath.