And thou shalt hear what they shall say
The Midianites, or what shall be said by any of them; for though it was the night season, and so not a time for much conversation, as it may be supposed to be the dead of the night; yet something would be said and heard, which is a clear proof of the prescience of God respecting future contingent events:
and afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened;
and his heart encouraged by what he should hear:
to go down into the camp;
in an hostile manner, with his three hundred men, after his return to them:
then went he down with Phurah his servant;
first privately, only they two, leaving his little army on the hill: and came
unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host;
the sentinels, who were without side the camp, and stood complete in armour to guard it; and they came as near to them, in as still and private manner as they could, without being discovered. The Septuagint version is,
``to the beginning of the fifty that were in the host;''and the Syriac and Arabic versions,
``to the captain of the fifty;''these might be a party of the outer guards, consisting of fifty men, with one at the head of them, placed for the safety of the army in the night season, and to give notice of any approach to them, or attempt on them.