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Read the Bible

New Revised Standard

Judges 7:20

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!"

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Armies;   Battle;   Courage;   Miracles;   Pitcher;   Strategy;   Sword;   Trumpet;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Home;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Stories for Children;   Sword of the Lord;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Hands, the;   Jews, the;   Midianites;   Miracles Wrought through Servants of God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Miracle;   War;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Gideon;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Esdraelon;   Lamp;   Oreb;   Sword;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Lamp;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ax, Ax Head;   Judges, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Lamp;   Levi;   Midian, Mtdianites;   Ophrah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Torch;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Jerubbaal;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Armageddon;   Gideon;   Harod;   Midian;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Lamp;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - War;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Reign of the Judges;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blow;   Company;   Firebrand;   Gideon;   Number;   Torch;   War;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Goliath;  

Parallel Translations

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 the Lord and for Gideon!”
Hebrew Names Version
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 cried, The sword of the LORD and of Gid`on.
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
When three companies blew on the trumpets and broke the jars, they held in their left hand the torches and in their right hand the trumpets for blowing, and they cried, "A sword for Yahweh 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!"
New Century Version
All three groups of Gideon's men blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands. Then they shouted, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"
New English Translation
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!"
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!"
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!"
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the three companies blew with trumpets and brake the pitchers, and helde the lampes in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right. handes to blowe withall: and they cryed, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
Legacy Standard Bible
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
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!"
Complete Jewish Bible
All three companies blew the shofars, broke the pitchers and held the torches in their left hands, keeping their right hands free for the shofars they were blowing; and they shouted, "The sword for Adonai and for Gid‘on!"
Darby Translation
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hand, and the trumpets in their right hand for blowing, and cried, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon!
Easy-to-Read Version
Then all three groups of Gideon's men blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. The men held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands. As they blew their trumpets, they shouted, "A sword for the Lord and a sword for Gideon!"
George Lamsa Translation
And the three companies blew their trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands; and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of 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!"
Literal Translation
And the three companies blew with their ram's horns, and broke the jars, and held the torches in their left hand; and in their right hand the ram's horns, and they cried out, A sword for Jehovah and for Gideon!
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
So all the thre companies blewe with ye trompettes, and brake the pitchers. But the lampes helde they in their lefte hande, and the trompettes in their righte hade, so that they blewe, and cried: Here the swerde of the LORDE and Gedeon.
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.
Bible in Basic English
So the three bands all gave a loud note on their horns, and when the vessels had been broken, they took the flaming branches in their left hands, and the horns in their right hands ready for blowing, crying out, For the Lord and for Gideon.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
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.
JPS Old Testament (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!'
King James Version (1611)
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lampes in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withall: and they cryed, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
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.
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.
Berean Standard Bible
The three companies blew their trumpets and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne thei sowneden in thre places bi cumpas, and hadden broke the pottis, thei helden laumpis in the left hondis, and sownynge trumpis in the riyt hondis; and thei crieden, The swerd of the Lord and of Gedeon; and stoden alle in her place,
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.'
Update Bible Version
And 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 cried, A sword of Yahweh 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, 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 cried, The sword of Yahweh 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 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!"
New Life Bible
All three groups blew their horns and broke their pots. They held the sticks of fire in their left hands and horns to be blown in their right hands. And they called out, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Yea the three companies blew with the horns, and shivered the pitchers, and caught hold - with their left hands - of the torches, while, in their right hands, were the horns, to blow with, - and they cried, A sword for Yahweh, and for Gideon!
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when they sounded their trurmpets 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:
Revised Standard Version
And 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 American Standard Bible (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!"

Contextual Overview

16 After he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars, 17 he said to them, "Look at me, and do the same; when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!'" 19 So Gideon and the hundred who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 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!" 21 Every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the men in camp ran; they cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

blew: How astonishing and overwhelming must the effect be, in a dark night, of the sudden glare of 300 torches, darting their splendour in the same instant on the half-awakened eyes of the terrified Midianites; accompanied with the clangor of 300 trumpets, alternately mingled with the thundering shout of cherav yehovah oolegidon, "The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon!" Numbers 10:1-10, Joshua 6:4, Joshua 6:16, Joshua 6:20, Isaiah 27:13, 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16

brake: 2 Corinthians 4:7, Hebrews 11:4, 2 Peter 1:15

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 33:29 - the sword Joshua 6:5 - the people Judges 7:18 - blow ye 1 Kings 20:20 - the Syrians Jeremiah 13:14 - I will dash

Cross-References

Psalms 104:6
You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
Jeremiah 3:23
Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers,.... The other two, observing what Gideon and his company did, followed their example, and at the same time blew their trumpets, and broke their pitchers; for that there were four companies, three besides Gideon's, as Kimchi and Ben Melech suggest, there is no reason to believe:

and held the lamps in their left hands; which they took out of the pitchers when they broke them, and holding them up in their left hands, gave a great blaze of light, which must be very surprising to the host of Midian, just awaked out of their sleep:

and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal; and which they continued blowing, the sound of which must be very dreadful, since it might be concluded, from such a number of trumpets, that there must be a vast army:

and they cried, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon; signifying that was drawn against the Midianites, and they must expect to be cut in pieces by it, since the sword was Jehovah's, sent and commissioned by him, and was put into the hand of Gideon as an instrument, with which execution would be done, the Lord helping him. The Targum is,

"the sword of the Lord, and victory by the hand of Gideon''

which victory was to be ascribed to the sword and power of God. This was an emblem of the efficacy of the word of God, accompanied with his power, to the destruction of the kingdom of Satan; the blowing of the trumpets may denote the ministration of the Gospel, the great trumpet to be blown by the apostles and ministers of the word; the holding forth the lamps may signify the same, the light of the divine word in the ministers of it, and the holding forth of it to others; and which is carried in earthen vessels, frail mortal men; and done that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God, and not of men; and the sword of the Lord is the word of God in the mouths of ministers, accompanied by the power of God; for it can only be through God that such weapons of warfare can become mighty to do the execution that is done by them; see 2 Corinthians 4:7 blowing of trumpets, and then a cry or shout of the soldiers to terrify the enemy, were used in later times k.

k "At tuba terribilem sonitum", &c. Virgil Aeneid. 9.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 7:20. Blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers — How astonishing must the effect be, in a dark night, of the sudden glare of three hundred torches, darting their splendour, in the same instant, on the half-awakened eyes of the terrified Midianites, accompanied with the clangour of three hundred trumpets, alternately mingled with the thundering shout of חרב ליהוה ולגדעון chereb layhovah ulegidon, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"

Origen, in his ninth homily on this book, makes these three hundred men types of the preachers of the Gospel; their trumpets of the preaching of Christ crucified; and their lights or torches, of the holy conduct of righteous men. In some verses of an ancient author, attributed to Tertullian, and written against the heretic Marcion, Gideon's three hundred men are represented as horsemen; and in this number he finds the mystery of the cross; because the Greek letter T, tau which is the numeral for 300, is itself the sign of the cross. The verses, which may be found in vol. v. of the Pisaurian Collection of the Latin heathen and Christian poets, Advers, Marcion., lib. 3, ver. 18, as being very curious, and not often to be met with, I shall here subjoin: -

Ex quibus ut Gideon dux agminis, acer in hostem,

Non virtute sua tutelam acquirere genti,

Firmatusque fide signum petit excita menti,

Quo vel non posset, vel posset vincere bellum,

Vellus ut in noctem positum de rore maderet,

Et tellus omnis circum siccata jaceret,

Hoc inimicorum palmam coalescere mundo;

Atque iterum solo remanenti vellere sicco,

Hoc eadem tellus roraret nocte liquore,

Hoc etenim signo praedonum stravit acervos.

Congressus populo Christi, sine milite multo:

Tercenteno equite (numerus Tau littera Graeca)

Armatis facibusque et cornibus ore canentum.

Vellus erat populus ovium de semine sancto.

Nam tellus variae gentes fusaeque per orbem,

Verbum quod nutrit, sed nox est mortis imago.

Tau signum crucis et cornu praeconia vitae,

Lucentesque faces in lychno spiritus ardens.

"Gideon, keen in arms, was captain of the host,

And acquired redemption for his people, but not by his own

power.

Being strengthened in faith, his heart was influenced to ask a

sign

By which he might know whether or not he should be successful

in battle.

A fleece was so placed by night, that it might be wet with dew;

And all the surrounding earth remain dry.

By this he was to learn that he should gain the victory over

his enemies.

The sign was reversed; the fleece remaining dry while all the

ground was moist;

And by this sign he was to know that he should slaughter those

troops of robbers.

The people of Christ conquer without any military force;

Three hundred horsemen, (for the Greek letter T, tau, is the

emblem of the number,)

Armed with torches, and blowing with trumpets.

The fleece of the sheep are the people sprung from the Messiah,

And the earth are the various nations dispersed over the world.

It is the word which nourishes; but might is the image of

death.

Tau is the sign of the cross; and the trumpets, the emblems of

the heralds of life;

And the burning torches in the pitchers, the emblems of the Holy

Spirit."


We see here what abstruse meanings a strong imagination, assisted by a little piety, may extract from what was never intended to be understood as a mystery.


 
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