¹Then Jerubbaal – that is Gideon – and all the people who were with him arose early and encamped at the source of Harod, while Midian had his camp to the north, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. ²And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to deliver Midian into their hands, in case Israel vaunt themselves against me, and they say, ‘My own ability saved me.’ ³So now, please proclaim in the audience of the people and say, ‘Whoever is fearful or trembling should return and go back quickly from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, but ten thousand remained. ⁴And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will filter them out for you there. And it will be the case that of whomever I say to you, ‘This man will go with you’, he will go with you, and everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This man will not go with you’, he will not go.” ⁵So he led the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, set him aside, and also everyone who kneels down to drink.” ⁶And the number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouth was three hundred men, and all the rest of the people knelt down to drink the water. ⁷Then the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you by the three hundred men who lapped, and I will deliver Midian into your hand. So let all the people go to their own place.” ⁸So the people took provisions in their hand, with their ramshorns, and he sent every man of Israel away to his tent, but he kept hold of the three hundred men. Now Midian had his camp below in the valley. ⁹And it came to pass that night that the Lord said to him, “Get up and go down to the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. ¹⁰But if you are afraid to go down, you and Purah your servant-boy go down to the camp, ¹¹and you will hear what they are saying, and afterwards your hands will be strengthened, and you will go down to the camp.” So he and Purah his servant-boy went down to the edge of the armed men who were in the camp. ¹²And Midian and Amalek and all the easterners were lying in the valley, like locusts in multitude, and their camels were countless, like the sand which is on the sea-shore in abundance. ¹³Then Gideon came, and what he heard was a man telling his colleague a dream, and he said, “Look, I have had a dream, and what I saw was a loaf of barley bread tumbling into Midian's camp, and it came up to the tent and struck it, and it fell down, and it turned it upside down, so the tent fell down.” ¹⁴And his colleague answered and said, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian and all his camp into his hand.” ¹⁵And it came to pass, when Gideon heard the account of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshipped and went back to Israel's camp and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered Midian's camp into your hand.” ¹⁶Then he divided the three hundred men into three contingents, and he put ramshorns in each one's hand, and empty jars, with lamps inside the jars, ¹⁷and he said to them, “Look at me and act accordingly, and when I come to the edge of the camp, whatever I do, so you do. ¹⁸When I sound the ramshorn – I and everyone who is with me – then you also sound the ramshorns yourselves, all around the camp, and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ ” ¹⁹Then Gideon and the one hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the start of the middle night-watch – they had only just put the watchmen on duty – and they sounded the ramshorns and broke the jars which were in their hands. ²⁰So the three contingents sounded the ramshorns and broke the jars, and they held the lamps in their left hand and the ramshorns to sound in their right hand, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” ²¹And each man stood on the spot round about the camp, but all the camp itself ran shouting out and fled. ²²And the three hundred men sounded their ramshorns, and the Lord set every man's sword against his colleague, and this throughout the camp, and the camp fled to Beth-Shittah of Zererah, to the border of Abel-Meholah, as far as Tabbath. ²³Then the men of Israel and Naphtali and Asher and all of Manasseh were drawn together, and they pursued Midian. ²⁴Then Gideon sent messengers throughout Mount Ephraim, who said, “Go down against Midian, and capture their water-rich area as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.” Then every man of Ephraim was drawn together, and they captured the water-rich area as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan. ²⁵And they captured two of Midian's commanders, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb on the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb in the wine vat of Zeeb, and they pursued Midian, and they brought the head of Oreb and of Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.