3 Now announce in the presence of the people: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So 22,000 of the people turned back, but 10,000 remained.
4 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one can go with you,’ he can go. But if I say about anyone, ‘This one cannot go with you,’ he cannot go.”
5 So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate everyone who laps water with his tongue like a dog. Do the same with everyone who kneels to drink.”
6 The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouths was 300 men, and all the rest of the people knelt to drink water.
7 The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and hand the Midianites over to you. But everyone else is to go home.”
8 So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents but kept the 300, who took the people’s provisions and their trumpets. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9 That night the Lord said to him, “Get up and go into the camp, for I have given it into your hand.