Judges 7:13-25

As soon as Gideon arrived, he heard an enemy soldier telling a friend about a dream. He was saying, “Well, I had a dream of this huge commotion in our camp. I dreamed a round loaf of barley bread came whirling into our camp and leveled a tent. It hit the tent so hard it turned it upside down, and the tent collapsed on the ground.” His friend interpreted the dream and said, “Your dream symbolizes the sword of the Israelite, Gideon son of Joash! It can’t mean anything else! God has given him victory over Midian and our whole army!” When Gideon heard about the man’s dream and what it meant, he fell to his knees and worshiped YAHWEH. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Come on, it’s time to strike! YAHWEH is giving you victory over the Midianite army!” He divided his three hundred men into three groups and gave each man a shofar and a clay jar hiding a torch inside it. He told them, “Follow me! When I get to the edge of the camp, watch me closely and do exactly what I do. When my group and I blow our shofars, then you blow yours all around the camp and shout, ‘For YAHWEH and for Gideon!’ ” Just before midnight, after the changing of the Midianite guard, Gideon and his hundred men came to the outskirts of the camp. Then each of the three groups blew the shofars and broke the clay jars that hid the torches inside. They held their torches in their left hands, the shofars in their right, and shouted a thunderous battle cry, “A sword for YAHWEH and for Gideon!” Each man held his position surrounding the camp. And the entire enemy army was shocked awake by the thunderous noises of Gideon’s army! They all panicked and fled, yelling as they ran away! When they sounded their three hundred shofars, YAHWEH made the enemy troops turn against each other with their own swords. The Midianites fled toward Zarerah as far as Beth Shittah, as far as the outskirts of the town of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. Gideon called to arms men from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and both parts of Manasseh, and they rallied and pursued the Midianites. Then Gideon sent messengers through the entire hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Join us in the fight against the Midianites. Deny them access to the River Jordan and the streams as far as Beth Barah, and prevent them from crossing over.” The men of Ephraim came together, and they held the River Jordan and the streams as far as Beth Barah. They captured the two Midianite chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb. They executed Oreb at Oreb Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb Winepress. While the Ephraimites continued to pursue the Midianites, they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now east of the Jordan.