The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ²  was threshing ³  wheat in a winepress ⁴  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ⁵ 

Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, ¹  but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster ²  overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ³  ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

Gideon went and prepared a young goat, ¹  along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food ²  to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.

So Gideon took ten of his servants ¹  and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family ²  and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime. ³ 

Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. ¹  Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” ² 

Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men ¹  got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. ²  The Midianites ³  were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. ¹  Israel might brag, ²  ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ ³ 

So he brought the men ¹  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.” ² 

The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army ¹  and I will hand Midian over to you. ²  The rest of the men should go home.” ³ 

When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. ¹  The man ²  said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw ³  a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.” ⁴ 

The other man said, ¹  “Without a doubt this symbolizes ²  the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. ¹  Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!”

Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp ¹  at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying. ² 

They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. ¹  They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb ²  in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites ³  and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River. ⁴ 

Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ¹  “Come on, ²  you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” ³  So Gideon killed ⁴  Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. ¹  Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. ²  When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; ³  when I say, ⁴  ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” ⁵ 

Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. ¹  Take control of the fords of the streams ²  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” ³  When all the Ephraimites had assembled, ⁴  they took control of the fords ⁵  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.