Judges:7-8
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Then Jerubbaal ,
who is Gideon ,
and all the people that were with him ,
rose up early ,
and pitched beside the well of Harod :
so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them ,
by the hill of Moreh ,
in the valley .
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And the LORD said unto Gideon ,
The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands ,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me ,
saying ,
Mine own hand hath saved me .
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Now therefore go to ,
proclaim in the ears of the people ,
saying ,
Whosoever is fearful and afraid ,
let him return and depart early from mount Gilead .
And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand ;
and there remained ten thousand .
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And the LORD said unto Gideon ,
The people are yet too many ;
bring them down unto the water ,
and I will try them for thee there :
and it shall be ,
that of whom I say unto thee ,
This shall go with thee ,
the same shall go with thee ;
and of whomsoever I say unto thee ,
This shall not go with thee ,
the same shall not go .
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So he brought down the people unto the water :
and the LORD said unto Gideon ,
Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue ,
as a dog lappeth ,
him shalt thou set by himself ;
likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink .
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And the number of them that lapped ,
putting their hand to their mouth ,
were three hundred men :
but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water .
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And the LORD said unto Gideon ,
By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you ,
and deliver the Midianites into thine hand :
and let all the other people go every man unto his place .
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So the people took victuals in their hand ,
and their trumpets :
and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent ,
and retained those three hundred men :
and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley .
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And it came to pass the same night ,
that the LORD said unto him ,
Arise ,
get thee down unto the host ;
for I have delivered it into thine hand .
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But if thou fear to go down ,
go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host :
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And thou shalt hear what they say ;
and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host .
Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host .
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And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude ;
and their camels were without number ,
as the sand by the sea side for multitude .
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And when Gideon was come ,
behold ,
there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow ,
and said ,
Behold ,
I dreamed a dream ,
and ,
lo ,
a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian ,
and came unto a tent ,
and smote it that it fell ,
and overturned it ,
that the tent lay along .
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And his fellow answered and said ,
This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash ,
a man of Israel :
for into his hand hath God delivered Midian ,
and all the host .
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And it was so ,
when Gideon heard the telling of the dream ,
and the interpretation thereof ,
that he worshipped ,
and returned into the host of Israel ,
and said ,
Arise ;
for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian .
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And he divided the three hundred men into three companies ,
and he put a trumpet in every man '
s hand ,
with empty pitchers ,
and lamps within the pitchers .
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And he said unto them ,
Look on me ,
and do likewise :
and ,
behold ,
when I come to the outside of the camp ,
it shall be that ,
as I do ,
so shall ye do .
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When I blow with a trumpet ,
I and all that are with me ,
then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp ,
and say ,
The sword of the LORD ,
and of Gideon .
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So Gideon ,
and the hundred men that were with him ,
came unto 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 brake the pitchers that were in their hands .
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And the three companies blew the trumpets ,
and brake the pitchers ,
and held the lamps in their left hands ,
and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal :
and they cried ,
The sword of the LORD ,
and of Gideon .
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And they stood every man in his place round about the camp :
and all the host ran ,
and cried ,
and fled .
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And the three hundred blew the trumpets ,
and the LORD set every man '
s sword against his fellow ,
even throughout all the host :
and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath ,
and to the border of Abelmeholah ,
unto Tabbath .
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And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali ,
and out of Asher ,
and out of all Manasseh ,
and pursued after the Midianites .
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And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim ,
saying ,
Come down against the Midianites ,
and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan .
Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together ,
and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan .
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And they took two princes of the Midianites ,
Oreb and Zeeb ;
and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb ,
and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb ,
and pursued Midian ,
and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan .
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And the men of Ephraim said unto him ,
Why hast thou served us thus ,
that thou calledst us not ,
when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites ?
And they did chide with him sharply .
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And he said unto them ,
What have I done now in comparison of you ?
Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer ?
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God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian ,
Oreb and Zeeb :
and what was I able to do in comparison of you ?
Then their anger was abated toward him ,
when he had said that .
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And Gideon came to Jordan ,
and passed over ,
he ,
and the three hundred men that were with him ,
faint ,
yet pursuing them .
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And he said unto the men of Succoth ,
Give ,
I pray you ,
loaves of bread unto the people that follow me ;
for they be faint ,
and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna ,
kings of Midian .
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And the princes of Succoth said ,
Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand ,
that we should give bread unto thine army ?
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And Gideon said ,
Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand ,
then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers .
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And he went up thence to Penuel ,
and spake unto them likewise :
and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him .
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And he spake also unto the men of Penuel ,
saying ,
When I come again in peace ,
I will break down this tower .
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Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor ,
and their hosts with them ,
about fifteen thousand men ,
all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east :
for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword .
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And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah ,
and smote the host :
for the host was secure .
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And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled ,
he pursued after them ,
and took the two kings of Midian ,
Zebah and Zalmunna ,
and discomfited all the host .
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And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up ,
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And caught a young man of the men of Succoth ,
and enquired of him :
and he described unto him the princes of Succoth ,
and the elders thereof ,
even threescore and seventeen men .
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And he came unto the men of Succoth ,
and said ,
Behold Zebah and Zalmunna ,
with whom ye did upbraid me ,
saying ,
Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand ,
that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary ?
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And he took the elders of the city ,
and thorns of the wilderness and briers ,
and with them he taught the men of Succoth .
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And he beat down the tower of Penuel ,
and slew the men of the city .
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Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna ,
What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor ?
And they answered ,
As thou art ,
so were they ;
each one resembled the children of a king .
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And he said ,
They were my brethren ,
even the sons of my mother :
as the LORD liveth ,
if ye had saved them alive ,
I would not slay you .
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And he said unto Jether his firstborn ,
Up ,
and slay them .
But the youth drew not his sword :
for he feared ,
because he was yet a youth .
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Then Zebah and Zalmunna said ,
Rise thou ,
and fall upon us :
for as the man is ,
so is his strength .
And Gideon arose ,
and slew Zebah and Zalmunna ,
and took away the ornaments that were on their camels '
necks .
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Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon ,
Rule thou over us ,
both thou ,
and thy son ,
and thy son '
s son also :
for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian .
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And Gideon said unto them ,
I will not rule over you ,
neither shall my son rule over you :
the LORD shall rule over you .
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And Gideon said unto them ,
I would desire a request of you ,
that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey . (
For they had golden earrings ,
because they were Ishmaelites .)
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And they answered ,
We will willingly give them .
And they spread a garment ,
and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey .
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And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold ;
beside ornaments ,
and collars ,
and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian ,
and beside the chains that were about their camels '
necks .
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And Gideon made an ephod thereof ,
and put it in his city ,
even in Ophrah :
and all Israel went thither a whoring after it :
which thing became a snare unto Gideon ,
and to his house .
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Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel ,
so that they lifted up their heads no more .
And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon .
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And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house .
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And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten :
for he had many wives .
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And his concubine that was in Shechem ,
she also bare him a son ,
whose name he called Abimelech .
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And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age ,
and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father ,
in Ophrah of the Abiezrites .
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And it came to pass ,
as soon as Gideon was dead ,
that the children of Israel turned again ,
and went a whoring after Baalim ,
and made Baalberith their god .
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And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God ,
who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side :
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Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal ,
namely ,
Gideon ,
according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel .
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And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother '
s brethren ,
and communed with them ,
and with all the family of the house of his mother '
s father ,
saying ,
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