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    Judges · 25 verses

    Judges 7

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    The chapter

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    The battle begins with a loaf of barley bread. It comes tumbling into the Midianite camp, overturns a tent, and is promptly identified as the sword of Gideon son of Joash—a most economical weapon, if a rather alarming breakfast.

    Three hundred and a loafvv. 1–15

    Gideon and his men camp beside the spring of Harod, with the camp of Midian spread north of them near Moreh. The LORD considers the army too large: twenty-two thousand fearful men leave, and the remaining ten thousand are sifted at the water until only three hundred remain, distinguished by the peculiar military virtue of lapping like dogs. That night Gideon is invited to spy on the camp with Purah. There, among a multitude compared with locusts and sand, he hears a dream of a barley loaf demolishing a tent. The interpretation supplies the courage the dreamer did not know he had: it is Gideon’s sword. Gideon bows in worship, then returns to rouse the three hundred.

    Jars, horns, and a disorderly retreatvv. 16–25

    Gideon divides the three hundred into three companies and gives each man a ram’s horn and a jar containing a torch. At the changing of the guard they break the jars, blow the horns, and shout from all around the camp. The Midianite army flees, while the LORD turns its swords against itself. Men from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh join the pursuit, and Ephraim is summoned to seize the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah. Oreb and Zeeb are captured and killed at places bearing their own names: Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. Their heads are then brought to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan, which is a remarkably literal conclusion to the chase.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Judg 7:1Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.

    2. Judg 7:2Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

    3. Judg 7:3Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the men: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand of them turned back, but ten thousand remained.

    4. Judg 7:4Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go. But if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

    5. Judg 7:5So Gideon brought the men down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel to drink.”

    6. Judg 7:6And the number of those who lapped the water with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; all the others knelt to drink.

    7. Judg 7:7Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped the water I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. But all the others are to go home.”

    8. Judg 7:8So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

    9. Judg 7:9That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

    10. Judg 7:10But if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah

    11. Judg 7:11and listen to what they are saying. Then your hands will be strengthened to attack the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant to the outposts where armed men were guarding the camp.

    12. Judg 7:12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.

    13. Judg 7:13And as Gideon arrived, a man was telling his friend about a dream. “Behold, I had a dream,” he said, “and I saw a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent so hard that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

    14. Judg 7:14His friend replied: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”

    15. Judg 7:15When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”

    16. Judg 7:16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

    17. Judg 7:17“Watch me and do as I do,” Gideon said. “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do exactly as I do.

    18. Judg 7:18When I and all who are with me blow our horns, then you are also to blow your horns from all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”

    19. Judg 7:19Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.

    20. Judg 7:20The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

    21. Judg 7:21Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran.

    22. Judg 7:22And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

    23. Judg 7:23Then the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.

    24. Judg 7:24Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.

    25. Judg 7:25They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. So they pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 179 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 2Deuteronomy 8:17You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”
    • 21 Corinthians 1:27–29But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
    • 22 Corinthians 4:7Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
    • 2Romans 11:18do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
    • 3Deuteronomy 20:8Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”
    • 2Zechariah 12:7The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah.
    • 25Isaiah 10:26And the LORD of Hosts will brandish a whip against them, as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will raise His staff over the sea, as He did in Egypt.
    • 1Judges 6:32So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar.
    • 2Ezekiel 28:17Your heart grew proud of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; so I cast you to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings.
    • 21 Samuel 14:6Jonathan said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will work on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”
    • 4Psalms 33:16No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.
    • 152 Corinthians 10:4–6The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
    • 2Habakkuk 1:16Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich.
    • 2Isaiah 10:13For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.
    • 22 Chronicles 14:11Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”
    • 2Jeremiah 9:23This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.

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