Judges 7:18

18 When the trump in my hand shall sound, sound ye also all about the tents, and cry ye together, To the Lord, and to Gideon.

Judges 7:18 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:18

When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me
He being at the head of one of the three companies, ( Judges 7:19 ) perhaps the middlemost, which might stand for the body of the army; and the other two be one to the right and the other to the left of him, and so could more easily discover his motions:

then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp;
for it seems they were so disposed as to be around the camp, which when the trumpets were blown at once on every side, with such a blaze of light, and crashing of the pitchers, must be very terrifying, as if there was no way for them to escape, and especially when they should hear the following dreadful sounds:

and say, [the sword] of the Lord, and of Gideon;
or "for the Lord, and for Gideon"; and which may be supplied, either the light is for the Lord, and for Gideon; or the victory is for the Lord, and for Gideon; we supply it from ( Judges 7:20 ) . The name Jehovah, these Heathens had often heard, as the God of Israel, would now be dreadful to them, and the name of Gideon also; whose name, as appears by the interpretation of the dream, was terrible among them; for which reason Gideon added it, and not out of arrogance and vanity; and puts it after the name of the Lord, as being only an instrument the Lord thought fit to make use of, otherwise all the glory belonged to him.

Judges 7:18 In-Context

16 And he parted the three hundred men into three parts, and he gave them trumps in their hands, and empty pots, and lamps (with lamps), that is, (with) burning brands, either torches, that might not lightly be quenched, in the midst of the pots.

17 And he said to them, Do ye this thing which ye see me do; I shall enter into a part of the tents, and follow ye that, that I do.

18 When the trump in my hand shall sound, sound ye also all about the tents, and cry ye together, To the Lord, and to Gideon.

19 And Gideon entered, and the three hundred men that were with him, into a part of the tents, when the watches of midnight began; and when the keepers were raised, they began to sound with trumps, and to beat together the pots among themselves (and after the guards had changed, they began to sound with the trumpets, and to beat the pots together).

20 And when they sounded in three places by compass, and had broken the pots, they held [the] lamps in their left hands, and [the] sounding trumps in their right hands; and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon;