Hakim-hakim 7:7-25

7:7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army ¹  and I will hand Midian over to you. ²  The rest of the men should go home.” ³  7:8 The men ⁴  who were chosen ⁵  took supplies ⁶  and their trumpets. Gideon ⁷  sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; ⁸  he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites ⁹  were camped down below ¹⁰  in the valley.

Gideon Reassured of Victory

7:9 That night the Lord said to Gideon, ¹¹  “Get up! Attack ¹²  the camp, for I am handing it over to you. ¹³  7:10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant 7:11 and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave ¹⁴  and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp. ¹⁵  7:12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. ¹⁶  Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 7:13 When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. ¹⁷  The man ¹⁸  said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw ¹⁹  a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.” ²⁰  7:14 The other man said, ²¹  “Without a doubt this symbolizes ²²  the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

Gideon Routs the Enemy

7:15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. ²³  Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!” 7:16 He divided the three hundred men into three units. ²⁴  He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them. ²⁵  7:17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! ²⁶  I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do! 7:18 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!’”

7:19 Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp ²⁷  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. ²⁸  7:20 All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. ²⁹  Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 7:21 They stood in order ³⁰  all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. ³¹  7:22 When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords ³²  throughout ³³  the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went ³⁴  to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 7:23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites. ³⁵ 

Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites

7:24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. ³⁶  Take control of the fords of the streams ³⁷  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” ³⁸  When all the Ephraimites had assembled, ³⁹  they took control of the fords ⁴⁰  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River. 7:25 They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. ⁴¹  They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb ⁴²  in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites ⁴³  and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River. ⁴⁴ 

[7:7]  ¹ tn Heb “you.” The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.

[7:7]  ² tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.

[7:7]  ³ tn Heb “All the people should go, each to his place.”

[7:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “The people.”

[7:8]  ⁵ tn The words “who were chosen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:8]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has “in their hands.”

[7:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “tents.”

[7:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:8]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds “him” (i.e., Gideon).

[7:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:9]  ¹² tn Heb “Go down against.”

[7:9]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, emphasizing the certainty of the promise.

[7:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your hands will be strengthened.”

[7:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the edge of the ones in battle array who were in the camp.”

[7:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east were falling in the valley like locusts in great number.”

[7:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And Gideon came, and, look, a man was relating to his friend a dream.”

[7:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Look!” The repetition of this interjection, while emphatic in Hebrew, would be redundant in the English translation.

[7:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “It came to the tent and struck it and it fell. It turned it upside down and the tent fell.”

[7:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[7:14]  ²² tn Heb “This can be nothing but.”

[7:15]  ²³ tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”

[7:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “heads.”

[7:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the jars.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“them”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:16]  sn They hid the torches inside the earthenware jars to disguise their approach and to keep the torches from being extinguished by the breeze.

[7:17]  ²⁶ tn Or “look.”

[7:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Gideon went, along with the hundred men who were with him, to the edge of the camp.”

[7:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “that were in their hands.”

[7:20]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds, “in order to blow [them].” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “each in his place.”

[7:21]  ³¹ tn Or “fled.”

[7:22]  ³² tn Heb “the Lord set the sword of each one against his friend.”

[7:22]  ³³ 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.

[7:22]  ³⁴ tn The words “they went” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:23]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:24]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to meet Midian.”

[7:24]  ³⁷ tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”

[7:24]  ³⁸ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).

[7:24]  ³⁹ tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”

[7:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they captured the waters.”

[7:25]  ⁴¹ sn The names Oreb and Zeeb, which mean “Raven” and “Wolf” respectively, are appropriate because the Midianites had been like scavengers and predators to Israel.

[7:25]  ⁴² tn The Hebrew text repeats the verb “executed.” This has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:25]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:25]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “beyond the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity (also in 8:4).