Bible Strands
Judges 7:22
And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Gideon’s three hundred trumpeters sound their horns, prompting Yahweh to turn the Midianite camp against itself. The verse occurs immediately after Israel positions itself around the enemy camp and before the broader Israelite forces are mobilized for pursuit.
The words — וַֽיִּתְקְעוּ (va-yitqəʿû) denotes the sounding of the shophar (הַשּׁוֹפָרוֹת), while וַיָּשֶׂם (va-yāsēm) describes Yahweh setting the men against each other. These terms anchor the narrative shift from human action to divine intervention.
The thread — The sounding of trumpets echoes the ritual blast in Joshua 6:16, while the flight to Abel-meholah and Beth-shean parallels the territorial markers in 1 Kings 4:12. These references connect the tactical rout to earlier conquest narratives and later administrative boundaries.
Why it lands — The text records Yahweh’s direct action in causing mutual confusion among the enemy ranks. Readers observe how divine intervention precedes human pursuit, requiring attention to the sequence of events rather than attributing the victory to strategy alone.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth–shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel–meholah, unto Tabbath.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 4:12 Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach, in Megiddo, and in all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam;
- Joshua 6:4 Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns.
- Joshua 6:16 After the seventh time around, the priests blew the horns, and Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
- Joshua 6:20 So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it.
- 1 Kings 19:16 You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.
- 2 Chronicles 20:23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction. And when they had finished off the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
- Psalms 83:9 Do to them as You did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon,
- Isaiah 9:4 For as in the day of Midian You have shattered the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor.
- Isaiah 19:2 “So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
- 1 Samuel 14:16 Now when Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in Benjamin looked and saw the troops melting away and scattering in every direction,