Judges
Chapter 7
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Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
A dotted word is a harder one. Point at it, or tap it, for a short definition.
1Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, got up early and camped by the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of him, from the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hand, lest Israel vaunt itself over me, saying, My own hand saved me.
3Now call, please, in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him turn back and leave from Mount Gilead. Twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, and ten thousand were left.
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- Translation
Yitspor is “let him leave.” The verb is uncommon in this line.
4God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. said to Gideon, The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. Whoever I say to you, This one shall go with you, he shall go with you, and everyone of whom I say to you, This one shall not go with you, he shall not go.
5He brought the people down to the water. God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. said to Gideon, Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, set him apart, and everyone who kneels on his knees to drink.
6The number of those who lapped, with their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men. All the rest of the people knelt on their knees to drink water.
7God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and I will give Midian into your hand. Let all the other people go, each man to his place.
8The people took the provision in their hand, and their horns. Every man of Israel he sent away, each to his tent, and he kept the three hundred men. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9That night God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. said to him, Get up, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
10If you are afraid to go down, go down, you and Purah your young man, to the camp,
11and you shall hear what they say. Afterward your hands will grow strong, and you shall go down against the camp. He went down, he and Purah his young man, to the edge of the men drawn up in the camp.
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- Translation
Ha-chamushim are the men drawn up in ranks.
12Midian, Amalek, and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley, as many as the locust for multitude, and their camels were without number, as the sand on the lip of the sea for multitude.
13Gideon came, and look, a man was telling a dream to his fellow. He said, Look, I dreamed a dream, and look, a loaf of barley bread was tumbling through the camp of Midian. It came to the tent, struck it, and it fell. It turned it upside down, and the tent fell.
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The written consonants are tsalul. The Masoretic reading is tsalil. Both stand in the line as the barley loaf. The written spelling is printed. The object is not changed.
14His fellow answered and said, This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand.
15When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its breaking open, he bowed down. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, Get up, for God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. has given the camp of Midian into your hand.
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- Translation
Shivro is its breaking open, the fellow’s reading of the dream.
16He split the three hundred men into three companies, and he put horns into every hand, and empty jars, and torches inside the jars.
17He said to them, Watch me, and do the same. Look, when I come to the edge of the camp, then as I do, so you shall do.
18When I blow the horn, I and all who are with me, then you shall blow the horns, you too, all around the whole camp, and you shall say, For God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. and for Gideon.
19Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the start of the middle watch. They had just posted the guards. They blew the horns and smashed the jars that were in their hands.
20The three companies blew the horns and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the horns in their right hand, to blow, and they called out, A sword for God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. and for Gideon.
21Each man stood in his place around the camp. The whole camp ran, they shouted, and they made them flee.
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The written consonants are vayyanisu, “and they made them flee.” The Masoretic reading is vayyanusu, “and they fled.” The written causative is printed.
22They blew the three hundred horns, and God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. set each man’s sword against his fellow, and against the whole camp. The camp fled as far as Beth-shittah, toward Zererah, as far as the lip of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
23The men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they chased Midian.
24Gideon sent messengers through all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, Come down to meet Midian, and seize the waters ahead of them as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan. Every man of Ephraim was called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.
25They captured the two chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They kept chasing Midian, and they brought the head of Oreb and the head of Zeeb to Gideon from the other side of the Jordan.