Judges 7:20
New International Version
The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

New Living Translation
Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

English Standard Version
Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

Berean Standard Bible
The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

King James Bible
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

New King James Version
Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing—and they cried, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!”

New American Standard Bible
When the three units blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

NASB 1995
When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

NASB 1977
When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, and they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing and called out, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!”

Amplified Bible
When three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, and they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

Christian Standard Bible
The three companies blew their ram’s horns and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands and their ram’s horns to blow in their right hands, and they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon! ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The three companies blew their trumpets and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands, their trumpets in their right hands, and shouted, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!”

American Standard Version
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands wherewith to blow; and they cried, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the three hundred Leaders sounded with the trumpets and they broke the pitchers and they seized the lamps with their left hands, and horns to sound in their right hands and they called out, “The sword for LORD JEHOVAH and for Gedun!”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and the three companies sounded with the horns, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands their horns to sound with; and they cried out, A sword for the Lord and for Gedeon.

Contemporary English Version
The rest of Gideon's soldiers blew the trumpets they were holding in their right hands. Then they smashed the jars and held the burning torches in their left hands. Everyone shouted, "Fight with your swords for the LORD and for Gideon!"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when they sounded their trumpets in three places round about the camp, and had broken their pitchers, they held their lamps in their left hands, and with their right hands the trumpets which they blew, and they cried out: The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon;

English Revised Version
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD and of Gideon.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The three companies also blew their rams' horns and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the rams' horns in their right hands so that they could blow them. They shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

Good News Translation
and the other two groups did the same. They all held the torches in their left hands, the trumpets in their right, and shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

International Standard Version
When the three companies sounded their trumpets and broke the jars, they held the torches in their left hands and sounded their trumpets with their right hands. Then they cried out, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the three companies blew the horns, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the horns in their right hands wherewith to blow; and they cried: 'The sword for the LORD and for Gideon!'

Literal Standard Version
and the three detachments blow with horns, and break the pitchers, and keep hold with their left hand on the lamps, and with their right hand on the horns to blow, and they cry, “The sword of YHWH and of Gideon!”

Majority Standard Bible
The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

New American Bible
When the three companies had blown their horns and broken their jars, they took the torches in their left hands, and in their right the horns they had been blowing, and cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

NET Bible
All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. Then they yelled, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

New Revised Standard Version
So the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

New Heart English Bible
The three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they called out, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon.'"

Webster's Bible Translation
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

World English Bible
The three companies blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, “The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon!”

Young's Literal Translation
and the three detachments blow with trumpets, and break the pitchers, and keep hold with their left hand on the lamps, and with their right hand on the trumpets to blow, and they cry, 'The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Gideon Defeats Midian
19Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran.…

Cross References
Judges 7:19
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.

Judges 7:21
Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran.

1 Samuel 11:11
The next day Saul organized the troops into three divisions, and during the morning watch they invaded the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them, until the hottest part of the day. And the survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together.

Jeremiah 47:6
Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!'


Treasury of Scripture

And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

blew.

Numbers 10:1-10
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, …

Joshua 6:4,16,20
And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets…

Isaiah 27:13
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

brake

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

2 Peter 1:15
Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

Jump to Previous
Bands Blew Blow Blowing Brake Break Broke Broken Companies Cried Cry Detachments Hand Hands Held Hold Holding Horns Jars Lamps Note Pitchers Ready Right Shouted Smashed Sword Three Torches Trumpets Vessels Wherewith Withal
Jump to Next
Bands Blew Blow Blowing Brake Break Broke Broken Companies Cried Cry Detachments Hand Hands Held Hold Holding Horns Jars Lamps Note Pitchers Ready Right Shouted Smashed Sword Three Torches Trumpets Vessels Wherewith Withal
Judges 7
1. Gideon's army of thirty-two thousand is brought to three hundred
9. He is encouraged by the dream and interpretation of the burley cake
16. His plan of trumpets and lamps in pitchers
24. The Ephraimites take Oreb and Zeeb














(20) The trumpets in their right hands . . .--Thus they were comparatively defenceless, though, if they had any armour at all, doubtless they could still hold the shield on the left arm, while the sword was girded on the thigh. The effect of the sudden crash and glare and shout upon the vast unwieldy host of the Bedouins may be imagined. Startled from sleep in a camp which, like Oriental camps, must have been most imperfectly protected and disciplined, they would see on every side blazing torches, and hear on every side the rams' horns and the terrible shout of the Israelites. (Comp. Tac. Ann. i. 68.) The instant result was a wild panic, such as that which seized the camp of the Persians at Plataee. The first thought which would rise in their minds would be that there was some treachery at work among the motley elements of the camp itself. Even a well-disciplined camp is liable to these outbursts of panic. One such occurred among the Greeks in the camp of the Ten Thousand during their retreat. To shame these groundless alarms, Klearchus next morning caused a reward to be proclaimed for any one who would give information "who had let the ass loose;" and this seems to have been a standing joke to shame Greek soldiers from such panics (Xen. Anab. ii. 2, 20). Several stratagems similar to that of Gideon are recorded in history. Polyaenus, in his book on the "Art of War," tells us that Di?tas, when attacking Heraea, "ordered the trumpeters to stand apart, and sound a charge opposite to many quarters of the city; and that the Heraeans, hearing the blasts of many trumpets from many directions, thinking that the whole region was crowded with enemies, abandoned the city." Frontinus also tells us that the Tarquinians and Faliscans tried to frighten the Romans with torches, and Minucius Rufus terrified the Scordisci by trumpets blown among the rocks (Strateg. ii. 3). Hannibal on one occasion escaped from Fabius Maximus by tying torches to the heads of cattle, and having them driven about the hills. The Druids waved torches to repel the attack of Suetonius Paulinus on the island of Mona (Tac. Ann. xiv. 30). An Arab chief (Bel-Arab) in the eighteenth century used trumpets in exactly the same manner as Gideon did on this occasion, and with the same success (Niebuhr, Beschr. von Arabien, p. 304). Ewald alludes to similar stratagems in Neapolitan and Hungarian wars, the latter so recently as 1849 (Gesch. ii. 503).



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The three
שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת (šə·lō·šeṯ)
Number - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7969: Three, third, thrice

companies
הָרָאשִׁ֥ים (hā·rā·šîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 7218: The head

blew
וַֽ֠יִּתְקְעוּ (way·yiṯ·qə·‘ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 8628: To clatter, slap, clang, to drive, to become bondsman

their trumpets
בַּשּֽׁוֹפָרוֹת֮ (baš·šō·w·p̄ā·rō·wṯ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 7782: A cornet, curved horn

and shattered
וַיִּשְׁבְּר֣וּ (way·yiš·bə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7665: To break, break in pieces

their jars.
הַכַּדִּים֒ (hak·kad·dîm)
Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 3537: A pail, earthenware, a jar

Holding
וַיַּחֲזִ֤יקוּ (way·ya·ḥă·zî·qū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 2388: To fasten upon, to seize, be strong, obstinate, to bind, restrain, conquer

the torches
בַּלַּפִּדִ֔ים (bal·lap·pi·ḏîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 3940: A flambeau, lamp, flame

in their left
שְׂמאוֹלָם֙‪‬ (śə·m·’ō·w·lām)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 8040: Dark, the north, the left hand

hands
בְיַד־ (ḇə·yaḏ-)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3027: A hand

and the trumpets
הַשּׁוֹפָר֖וֹת (haš·šō·w·p̄ā·rō·wṯ)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 7782: A cornet, curved horn

in their right
יְמִינָ֔ם (yə·mî·nām)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 3225: The right hand, side, the south

hands,
וּבְיַ֨ד־ (ū·ḇə·yaḏ-)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3027: A hand

they shouted,
וַֽיִּקְרְא֔וּ (way·yiq·rə·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

“A sword
חֶ֥רֶב (ḥe·reḇ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

for the LORD
לַֽיהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

and for Gideon!”
וּלְגִדְעֽוֹן׃ (ū·lə·ḡiḏ·‘ō·wn)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1439: Gideon -- a judge of Israel


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OT History: Judges 7:20 The three companies blew the trumpets (Jd Judg. Jdg)
Judges 7:19
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