Judges 7:1-5

Context

Gideon Reduces the Ranks

7:1 Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men¹ got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod.² The Midianites³ were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley. 7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you.⁴ Israel might brag,⁵ ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’⁶ 7:3 Now, announce to the men,⁷ ‘Whoever is shaking with fear⁸ may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’”⁹ Twenty-two thousand men¹⁰ went home;¹¹ ten thousand remained. 7:4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men.¹² Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more.¹³ When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go;¹⁴ when I say,¹⁵ ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.”¹⁶ 7:5 So he brought the men¹⁷ down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.”¹⁸

[7:1] ¹tn Heb “and all the people who were with him.”

[7:1] ²sn The name Harod means, ironically, “trembling.”

[7:1] ³tn Heb “Midian.” The LXX reads “and Amalek” (cf. v. 12; 6:33).

[7:2] ⁴tn Heb “the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand.”

[7:2] ⁵tn Heb “might glorify itself against me.”

[7:2] ⁶tn Heb “my hand has delivered me.”

[7:3] ⁷tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”

[7:3] ⁸tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”

[7:3] ⁹tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading “and leave Mount Gilead” for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, “So Gideon tested them” (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).

[7:3] ¹⁰tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)

[7:3] ¹¹tn Or “turned around, back.”

[7:4] ¹²tn Heb “too many people.”

[7:4] ¹³tn Heb “test them for you there.”

[7:4] ¹⁴tn Heb “he should go with you.”

[7:4] ¹⁵tn Heb also has “to you.”

[7:4] ¹⁶tn Heb “he should not go.”

[7:5] ¹⁷tn Heb “the people.”

[7:5] ¹⁸tn Heb “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, put him by himself, as well as the one who gets down on his knees to drink.”