3 So make an announcement to your men. Tell them, ‘Anyone who is afraid may leave Mount Gilead and go back home.’” At that time 22,000 men left Gideon and went back home, but 10,000 still remained.
4 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take the men down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say, ‘This man will go with you,’ he will go. But if I say, ‘That one will not go with you,’ then he will not go.”
5 So Gideon led the men down to the water. There the Lord said to him, “Separate the men like this: Those who drink the water by using their tongue to lap it up like a dog will be in one group. And those who bend down to drink will be in the other group.”
6 There were 300 men who used their hands to bring water to their mouth and lapped it like a dog does. All the other people bent down and drank the water.
7 The Lord said to Gideon, “I will use the 300 men who lapped the water like a dog. I will use them to save you, and I will allow you to defeat the Midianites. Let the other men go home.”
8 So Gideon sent the other men of Israel home. He kept the 300 men with him. Those 300 men kept the supplies and the trumpets of the other men who went home. The Midianites were camped in the valley below Gideon’s camp.
9 During the night the Lord spoke to Gideon and said, “Get up. I will let you defeat the Midianite army. Go down to their camp.