Gideon’s Army of Three Hundred

1Then Ierobaal (who is Gedeon) and all ye people yt were with him, rose vp early, & pytched besyde the wel of Harad: so that the hoaste of the Madianites were on the northsyde of them by the hyll of Moreh in the valley.

2And the Lord sayd vnto Gedeon: The people that are with thee, are to many for me to geue ye Madianites into their handes, lest Israel make their vaunt against me, and saye: Myne owne hand hath saued me. 3Nowe therfore make a proclamation in the eares of people, and saye: If any man dread or be afeard, let him returne and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people 22 thousande, & there abode ten thousande.

4And the Lord sayd vnto Gedeon: The people are yet to many, bryng them downe vnto the water, and I will trye them vnto thee there. And of whom I say vnto thee, this shal go with thee: the same shal go with thee. And of whom soeuer I say vnto thee, this shal not go with thee: the same shal not go. 5So he brought downe the people vnto the water: And the Lord said vnto Gedeon, As many as lappe ye water with their tongues as a dogge lappeth, them put by them selues, and so do them that kneele downe vpon their knees to drincke. 6And the number of them that put their handes to their mouthes and lapped, were three hundred men: But all ye remnaunt of ye people kneeled downe vpon their knees to dryncke water. 7And the Lorde sayd vnto Gedeon: By these three hundred men that lapped will I saue you, and deliuer the Madianites into thyne hande: And let all the other people go euery man vnto his place. 8They therfore of the people toke vittailes with them, and their trumpettes: And he sent all the rest of Israel, euery man vnto his tent, and retayned those three hundreth men: And the hoast of Madian was beneath him in a valley.

The Sword of Gideon

9And the same nyght the Lorde sayde vnto him: Aryse, get thee downe vnto the hoast, for I haue delyuered it into thyne hand. 10But and if thou feare to go downe, then go thou and Phara thy ladde downe to the hoast. 11And thou shalt hearken what they say, and so shall thine handes be strong to go downe vnto ye hoast. Then went he downe & Phara his ladde vnto the outsyde of the men of armes that were in the hoast. 12And the Madianites, the Amalekites, and all they of the east, lay along in the valley lyke a multitude of grashoppers, and their camelles were without numbre, euen as the sande by the sea syde in multitude. 13And when Gedeon was come, behold, there was a man that tolde a dreame vnto his neyghbour, and sayd: Behold, I dreamed a dreame, and me thought that a cake of barley bread tumbled into the hoast of Madian, and came vnto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and ouerturned it that the tent lay along. 14And his felowe aunswered and sayd: This is nothing els saue the sworde of Gedeon ye sonne of Ioas, a man of Israel: for into his hande hath God deliuered Madian, and all the hoast.

Gideon Defeats Midian

15When Gedeon heard the telling of the dreame, & the interpretation of the same, he worshypped, and returned vnto the hoast of Israel, and sayde: Up, for the Lorde hath deliuered into your hande the hoast of Madian. 16And he deuided the three hundred men into three companies, and gaue euery man a trumpet in his hande, with emptie pytchers, and lampes therin. 17And sayde vnto them, Loke on me, and do lykewyse: that when I come to the syde of the hoast, euen as I do, so do you. 18When I blowe with a trumpet and all that are with me, blowe ye with trumpettes also on euery syde of the hoast, and say: For the Lord, and for Gedeon.

19So Gedeon and the hundred men that were with him, came vnto the outsyde of the hoast in the begynnyng of the myddle watche, & raysed vp the watch men: And they blewe with their trumpettes, & brake the pytchers that were in their handes. 20And the three companies blewe with trumpettes, & brake the pytchers, and helde the lampes in their left handes, and the trumpettes in their right, to blowe withal: And they cryed, The sworde of the Lorde, and of Gedeon. 21And they stoode styll, euery man in his place rounde about the hoast: And all the hoast ranne, and cryed, and fled. 22And the three hundreth blewe with trumpettes, and the Lorde set euery mans sworde vppon his neyghbour throughout all the hoast: and the hoast fled to Bethhasitah, to Zererath, and to the edge of the playne of Meholah vnto Tabbath. 23And the men of Israel being gathered together out of Nephthalim, of Aser, and of all Manasses, folowed after the Madianites.

24And Gedeon sent messengers vnto al mount Ephraim, saying: Come downe against the Madianites, and take before them the waters vnto Bethbarath, and to Iordane. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together, & toke the waters vnto Bethbarath, & to Iordane. 25And they toke two princes of the Madianites, Oreb and Zeb: and slue Oreb vpon the rocke Oreb, and Zeb at the winepresse of Zeb, and folowed after Madian: and brought the heades of Oreb and Zeb to Gedeon on the other syde Iordane.