Judges 7

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) got up very early, as did al the people who were with him; he pitched camp at En-Harod; the camp of Midian was north of his, under the Hill of Moreh in the val ey.	1 And so Jerubbaal, who is also Gideon, rising in the night, and all the people with him, went to the fountain which is called Harod. Now the camp of Midian was in the valley, to the northern region of the high hill.
2 Yahweh then said to Gideon, 'There are too many people with you for me to put Midian into their power;Israel might claim the credit for themselves at my expense: they might say, "My own hand has rescued me."	2 And the Lord said to Gideon: “The people with you are many, but Midian shall not be delivered into their hands, for then Israel might glory against me, and say, ‘I was freed by my own power.’
3 So now make this proclamation to the people, "Anyone trembling with fear is to go back and watch fromMount Gilboa." ' Twenty-two thousand of the people went back, and ten thousand remained.	3 Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all, ‘Whoever has dread or fear, let him return.’ And twenty-two thousand of the men from the people withdrew from Mount Gilead and returned, and only ten thousand remained.
4 Yahweh said to Gideon, 'There are stil too many people. Take them down to the waterside and I shalsort them out for you there. If I say of someone, "He is to go with you," that man is to go with you. And if I say of anyone, "He is not to go with you," that man is not to go.'	4 And the Lord said to Gideon: “The people are still too many. Lead them to the waters, and there I will test them. And those about whom I tell you that he may go with you, let him go; he whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.”
5 So Gideon took the people down to the waterside, and Yahweh said to him, 'Al those who lap the waterwith their tongues, as a dog laps, put these on one side. And al those who kneel down to drink, put these on theother side.'	5 And when the people had descended to the waters, the Lord said to Gideon: “Whoever will lap the water with the tongue, as dogs usually lap, you shall separate them by themselves. Then those who will drink by bending their knees shall be on the other side.”
6 The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouth was three hundred; al the rest of thepeople had knelt to drink.	6 And so the number of those who had lapped the water, by bringing it with the hand to the mouth, was three hundred men. And all the remainder of the multitude drank by bending the knee.
7 Yahweh then said to Gideon, 'With the three hundred who lapped the water, I shal rescue you and putMidian into your power. Let the people as a whole disperse to their homes.'	7 And the Lord said to Gideon: “By the three hundred men who lapped the water, I will free you, and I will deliver Midian into your hand. But let all the remainder of the multitude return to their place.”
8 So they took the people's provisions and their horns, and then Gideon sent al the Israelites back to theirtents, keeping only the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below his in the val ey.	8 And so, taking food and trumpets in accord with their number, he instructed all the rest of the multitude to go back to their tents. And with the three hundred men, he gave himself to the conflict. Now the camp of Midian was below, in the valley.
9 Now it happened, that same night, that Yahweh said to him, 'Get up and go down to the camp. I amputting it into your power.	9 In the same night, the Lord said to him: “Rise up, and descend into the camp. For I have delivered them into your hand.
10 If, however, you are nervous about going down, go down to the camp with your servant Purah;	10 But if you dread to go alone, let your servant Purah descend with you.
11 listen to what they are saying, and that wil encourage you to go down to the camp.' So, with hisservant Purah, he went down to the edge of the outposts of the camp.	11 And when you will hear what they are saying, then your hands will be strengthened, and you will descend more confidently to the camp of the enemy.” Therefore, he descended with his servant Purah into a portion of the camp, where there was a watch of armed men.
12 Midian, Amalek and al the sons of the East were deployed in the val ey as thick as locusts; theircamels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.	12 But Midian, and Amalek, and all the eastern peoples lay spread out in the valley, like a multitude of locusts. Their camels, too, were innumerable, like the sand that lies on the shore of the sea.
13 Gideon got there just as a man was tel ing his comrade a dream; he was saying, 'This was the dream Ihad: a cake made of barley bread came rolling into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent, struck against it andturned it upside down.'	13 And when Gideon had arrived, someone told his neighbor a dream. And he related what he had seen, in this way: “I saw a dream, and it seemed to me as if bread, baked under ashes from rolled barley, descended into the camp of Midian. And whenever it arrived at a tent, it struck it, and overturned it, and utterly leveled it to the ground.”
14 His comrade replied, 'This can only be the sword of Gideon son of Joash the Israelite. God has putMidian and the whole camp into his power.'	14 He to whom he spoke, responded: “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. For the Lord has delivered Midian into his hands, with their entire camp.”
15 When Gideon heard the dream thus told and interpreted, he bowed in reverence; he then went back tothe camp of Israel and said, 'On your feet, for Yahweh has put the camp of Midian into your power!'	15 And when Gideon had heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped. And he returned to the camp of Israel, and he said: “Rise up! For the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into our hands.”
16 Gideon then divided his three hundred men into three groups. To each he gave a horn and an emptypitcher, with a torch inside each pitcher.	16 And he divided the three hundred men into three parts. And he gave trumpets, and empty pitchers, and lamps for the middle of the pitchers, into their hands.
17 He said to them, 'Watch me, and do as I do. When I reach the edge of the camp, whatever I do, youmust do also.	17 And he said to them: “What you will see me do, do the same. I will enter a portion of the camp, and what I do, you shall follow.
18 I shal blow my horn, and so wil all those who are with me; you too will then blow your horns al roundthe camp and shout, "For Yahweh and for Gideon!"	18 When the trumpet in my hand blares out, you also shall sound the trumpets, on every side of the camp, and shout together to the Lord and to Gideon.”
19 Gideon and his hundred companions reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middlewatch, when the new sentries had just been posted; they blew their horns and smashed the pitchers in theirhands.	19 And Gideon, and the three hundred men who were with him, entered a portion of the camp, at the beginning of the watch in the middle of the night. And when the guards were alerted, they began to sound the trumpets and to clap the pitchers against one another.
20 The three groups blew their horns and smashed their pitchers; with their left hands they grasped thetorches, with their right hands the horns for blowing them; and they shouted, 'The sword for Yahweh and forGideon!'	20 And when they had sounded their trumpets in three places around the camp, and had broken their water pitchers, they held the lamps in their left hands, and sounded the trumpets in their right hands. And they cried out, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
21 And they stood stil , spaced out round the camp. The whole camp was thrown into confusion and theMidianites fled, shouting.	21 And each one was standing in his place throughout the camp of the enemies. And so the entire camp was in confusion; and they fled away, wailing and crying out.
22 While the three hundred blew their horns, Yahweh made each man turn his sword against his comradethroughout the entire camp. They al fled as far as Beth-ha-Shittah in the direction of Zarethan, as far as thebank of Abel-Meholah opposite Tabbath.	22 And the three hundred men nevertheless continued sounding the trumpets. And the Lord sent the sword into the entire camp, and they maimed and cut down one another,
23 The men of Israel mustered from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh, and pursued Midian.	23 fleeing as far as Bethshittah, and the base of Abelmeholah in Tabbath. But the men of Israel pursued Midian, shouting from Naphtali and Asher, and from all of Manasseh.
24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the highlands of Ephraim to say, 'Come down to meet Midian,seize the water-points ahead of them as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.' Al the men of Ephraim musteredand seized the water-points as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.	24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all of Mount Ephraim, saying, “Descend to meet Midian, and occupy the waters ahead of them as far as Bethbarah and the Jordan.” And all of Ephraim cried out, and they occupied the waters ahead of them, from the Jordan even to Bethbarah.
25 They captured the two Midianite chieftains, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at Oreb's Rock and Zeebat Zeeb's Winepress. They pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on theother side of the Jordan.	25 And having apprehended two men of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, they put Oreb to death at the Rock of Oreb, and truly, Zeeb, at the Winepress of Zeeb. And they pursued Midian, carrying the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, across the waters of the Jordan.