Глава 7

  • 1. Then 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.
  • 2. And 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.
  • 3. Nowe 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.
  • 4. And 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.
  • 5. So 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.
  • 6. And 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.
  • 7. And 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.
  • 8. They 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.
  • 9. And the same nyght the Lorde sayde vnto him: Aryse, get thee downe vnto the hoast, for I haue delyuered it into thyne hand.
  • 10. But and if thou feare to go downe, then go thou and Phara thy ladde downe to the hoast.
  • 11. And 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.
  • 12. And 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.
  • 13. And 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.
  • 14. And 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.
  • 15. When 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.
  • 16. And he deuided the three hundred men into three companies, and gaue euery man a trumpet in his hande, with emptie pytchers, and lampes therin.
  • 17. And 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.
  • 18. When 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.
  • 19. So 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.
  • 20. And 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.
  • 21. And they stoode styll, euery man in his place rounde about the hoast: And all the hoast ranne, and cryed, and fled.
  • 22. And 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.
  • 23. And the men of Israel being gathered together out of Nephthalim, of Aser, and of all Manasses, folowed after the Madianites.
  • 24. And 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.
  • 25. And 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.