5. When Gideon led his army down to the spring, the Lord told him, “Watch how each man gets a drink of water. Then divide them into two groups—those who lap the water like a dog and those who kneel down to drink.”
6. Three hundred men scooped up water in their hands and lapped it, and the rest knelt to get a drink.
7. The Lord said, “Gideon, your army will be made up of everyone who lapped the water from their hands. Send the others home. I'm going to rescue Israel by helping you and your army of three hundred defeat the Midianites.”
8. Then Gideon gave these orders, “You three hundred men stay here. The rest of you may go home, but leave your food and trumpets with us.”Gideon's army camp was on top of a hill overlooking the Midianite camp in the valley.
9. That night, the Lord said to Gideon. “Get up! Attack the Midianite camp. I am going to let you defeat them,
10. but if you're still afraid, you and your servant Purah should sneak down to their camp.
11. When you hear what the Midianites are saying, you'll be brave enough to attack.”Gideon and Purah worked their way to the edge of the enemy camp, where soldiers were on guard duty.
12. The camp was huge. The Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern nations covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. And it would be easier to count the grains of sand on a beach than to count their camels.
13. Gideon overheard one enemy guard telling another, “I had a dream about a flat loaf of barley bread that came tumbling into our camp. It hit the headquarters tent, and the tent tipped over and fell down.”
14. The other soldier answered, “Your dream must have been about Gideon, the Israelite commander. It means God will let him and his army defeat the Midianite army and everyone else in our camp.”
15. As soon as Gideon heard about the dream and what it meant, he bowed down to praise God. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Let's go! The Lord is going to let us defeat the Midianite army.”