Hakim-hakim 7:15-19

Gideon Routs the Enemy

7:15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. ¹  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. ²  He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them. ³  7:17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! ⁴  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 ⁵  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. ⁶ 

[7:15]  ¹ tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”

[7:16]  ² tn Heb “heads.”

[7:16]  ³ 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 The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“them”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.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]  ⁴ tn Or “look.”

[7:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “Gideon went, along with the hundred men who were with him, to the edge of the camp.”

[7:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “that were in their hands.”