Gideon’s Army of Three Hundred

1Then Ierubaal (that is Gedeon) gat him vp early, and all the people that was with him, and pitched their tentes besyde the well of Harod, so that he had the hoost of the Madianites on the north side behynde the hyll of More in the valley.

2But the LORDE sayde vnto Gedeon: The people that be with ye are to many for me to delyuer Madian into their hande, lest Israel boost them selues agaynst me, and saye: My hande hath delyuered me. 3Cause a proclamacion now to be made in the eares of the people, and saye: He that feareth, and is afrayed, let him turne backe, and get him soone fro mount Gilead. Then returned there of the people aboute a two and twenty thousande so that there was left but ten thousande.

4And the LORDE sayde vnto Gedeon. The people are yet to many: brynge them downe to the water, there wyl I proue them for ye: and of whom I saye that he shal go wt the, the same shal go with the: but of who I saie that he shal not go with the, the same shall not go. 5And he broughte the people vnto ye water. And the LORDE sayde vnto Gedeon: Whosoeuer licketh of the water with his tuge, as a dogg licketh, make him stonde asyde and lykewyse who soeuer falleth downe vpo his knees to drynke. 6Then was the nombre of them that had licked out of the hande to the mouth, thre hundreth men. 7And the LORDE sayde vnto Gedeon: Thorow the thre hudreth which haue licked, wyl I delyuer you, and geue ouer the Madianites in to thy hade: As for the other people, let them go euery one vnto his place. 8And they toke vytayles with them for ye people, and their trompettes: but the other Israelites let he go, euery one vnto his tente. And he strengthed himselfe with the thre hundreth men, and the Madianites hoost laye before him beneth in the valley.

The Sword of Gideon

9And the same night sayde the LORDE vnto him: Vp, and go downe in to the hoost, for I haue geuen them ouer in to thy hande. 10But yf thou be afrayed to go downe, then let yi seruaunt Pura go downe with the vnto the hoost, 11yt thou maiest heare what they saie: after that shalt thou be bolde, and thy honde stronge, that thou mayest go downe in to the hoost. Than wente Gedeon downe with his sernaunt vnto ye uttemost parte of ye watchme of armes yt were in ye hoost. 12And ye Madianites and Amalechites, and all the children of the south, had layed them selues beneth in the valley, as a multitude of greshoppers, and their Camels were not to be nombred for multitude, eue as the sonde on ye see shore. 13Now whan Gedeon came, beholde, one tolde another his dreame, & sayde: Beholde, I haue dreamed a dreame: Me thoughte a bake barlye lofe came rollinge downe to ye hoost of ye Madianites: and whan it came to the tente, it smote it, and ouerthrew it, and turned it vpsyde downe, so that the tente fell. 14Then answered the other: That is nothinge els then ye swerde of Gedeon the sonne of Ioas ye Israelite: God hath geue ouer the Madianites with all the hoost in to his hande.

Gideon Defeats Midian

15Whan Gedeon herde this dreame tolde, & the interpretacion of it, he worshipped, and came agayne in to the hoost of Israel, and sayde: Up, for the LORDE hath delyuered ye hoost of the Madianites in to youre hade. 16And he deuyded the thre hundreth men in to thre partes, and gaue euery one a trompet in his hande, and emptye pytchers, and lampes therin, 17and sayde vnto them: Loke vnto me, and do ye eue so, and beholde, wha I come to the vttemost parte of the hoost, euen as I do, so do ye also. 18Whan I blowe ye trompet, and all that are wt me, then shal ye blowe ye tropettes also rounde aboute all the hoost, and saye: Here the LORDE & Gedeon.

19Thus came Gedeon and the thre hundreth men with him vnto the vttemost parte of ye hoost (aboute the tyme whan the mydwatch begynneth) and waked vp the watchme, and blewe with the trompettes, and smote asunder the pitchers in their handes. 20So all the thre companies blewe with ye trompettes, and brake the pitchers. But the lampes helde they in their lefte hande, and the trompettes in their righte hade, so that they blewe, and cried: Here the swerde of the LORDE and Gedeon. 21And euery one stode in his place aboute the hoost. Then ranne all the hoost, and cried and fled. 22And whyle the thre hundreth men blewe the trompettes, ye LORDE broughte it so to passe, that euery mans swerde in all ye hoost was agaynst another, and the hoost fled vnto Bethsitha Zereratha, and vnto the border of the playne of Mehohab besyde Tabath. 23And ye men of Israel of Nephtali, of Asser, & of Manasse cried, and folowed vpon the Madianites.

24And Gedeon sent messaungers vp vnto all mount Ephraim, sayenge: Come downe against the Madianites, and stoppe the water from them vnto Beth Bara and Iordane. And then cryed all they that were of Ephraim, and stopped the water from them vnto Bethbara and Iordane, 25and toke two prynces of the Madianites Oreb and Zeb, and slewe Oreb vpon the rocke of Oreb, and Zeb in the wynepresse of Zeb, and folowed vpon the Madianites, and broughte the heades of Oreb and Zeb, vnto Gideon ouer Iordane.