Judges 7:10-20

10 And if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the camp;
11 and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterwards shall thy hand be strengthened, and thou shalt go down unto the camp. And he went down with Phurah his servant to the outside of the armed men that were in the camp.
12 And Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east lay along in the valley as locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand upon the sea-shore for multitude.
13 And Gideon came, and behold, a man was telling a dream to his fellow; and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley-bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it; and the tent lay along.
14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, the man of Israel: God hath given into his hand Midian and all the host.
15 And it came to pass when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshipped. And he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise; for Jehovah hath given into your hand the camp of Midian.
16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, and empty pitchers, and torches within the pitchers.
17 And he said to them, Look on me, and do likewise; behold, when I come to the extremity of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
18 And when I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, ye also shall blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shall say, For Jehovah and for Gideon!
19 And Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch; and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.
20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hand, and the trumpets in their right hand for blowing, and cried, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon!

Judges 7:10-20 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.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Lit. 'extremity.'
  • [b]. i.e. midnight: see Lam. 2.19 and 1Sam. 11.11.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.