Judges 7:9-25

9 Now the same night it came about that the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, ¹for I have given it into your hands.

10 "But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp,

11 and you will hear what they say; and ²afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp." So he went with Purah his servant down to the outposts of the army that was in the camp.

12 Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley ³as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ⁴as numerous as the sand on the seashore *.

13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, "Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat."

14 His friend replied, "This is nothing less * than * the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp ⁵into his hand."

15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hands."

16 He divided the 300 * men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers.

17 He said to them, "Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.

18 "When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.' "

Confusion of the Enemy

19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

21 Each stood in his place around the camp; and ⁶all the army ran, crying out as they fled.

22 When they blew 300 * trumpets, the ⁷LORD set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ⁸Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

23 The men of Israel were summoned from ⁹Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian and ¹⁰take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.

25 They captured the two leaders of Midian, ¹¹Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon ¹²from across the Jordan.

Judges 7:9-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 7

In this chapter we have an account of the army under Gideon gathered out of several tribes, which from 32,000 were reduced to three hundred, and we are told by what means this was done, Jud 7:1-8 and how he was directed to go into the host of the Midianites, where he heard one of them telling his dream to his fellow, which greatly encouraged him to believe he should succeed, Jud 7:9-15 also we are told the form and manner in which he disposed of his little army to attack the Midianites, and the orders he gave them to observe, which had the desired effect, and issued in the total rout of that large body of people, Jud 7:16-22 and those that were not destroyed were pursued by persons gathered out of several tribes, and the passages of Jordan were taken by the Ephraimites, so that those that attempted their escape into their own country, there fell into their hands, Jud 7:23-25.

Cross References

• 1. Joshua 2:24; Joshua 10:8; Joshua 11:6
• 2. Judges 7:15; 1 Samuel 14:9, 10
• 3. Judges 6:5; Judges 8:10
• 4. Joshua 11:4
• 5. Joshua 2:9
• 6. 2 Kings 7:7
• 7. 1 Samuel 14:20
• 8. 1 Kings 4:12; 1 Kings 19:16
• 9. Judges 6:35
• 10. Judges 3:28
• 11. Psalms 83:11; Isaiah 10:26
• 12. Judges 8:4

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "extremity of the battle array"
• [b]. Lit "dreamed"
• [c]. Lit "and behold, a loaf"
• [d]. Lit "upwards"
• [e]. Lit "heads"
• [f]. Lit "it shall come about that just as I do, so you shall do"
• [g]. Lit "heads"
• [h]. Or "camp"
• [i]. Or "camp"
• [j]. Or "camp"
• [k]. Lit "to meet"