Yahweh will save Israel using a very small number of warriors. In this way the people will know and acknowledge that the victory comes from Yahweh, not from their own military power.
And the LORD said to Gideon: The focus shifts here from the warriors down at the spring back to an exchange between the LORD and Gideon. In some languages a new paragraph can begin here. The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may be translated “Then” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or omitted (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).
With the three hundred men that lapped: These words are in focus at the beginning of the Hebrew sentence here. The storyteller draws special attention to the small number of soldiers Yahweh plans to use. The preposition With may be rendered “By means of” (New American Bible). For lapped see verse 7.5. This whole clause may be translated “I will use only the three hundred men who lapped the water.”
I will deliver you describes the main action Yahweh will carry out through the 300 warriors. He promises to save Israel. The pronoun I refers to Yahweh. The verb deliver is the keyword used to describe the saving actions of the heroes throughout this book (see comments on verse 3.9). The pronoun you refers to all the Israelites, not just Gideon.
And give the Midianites into your hand: See verse 7.2 and the comments on verse 1.2.
And let all the others go every man to his home: Like those who were afraid (verse 7.3), all the warriors who knelt to drink water are sent home. All the others refers to them. Every man to his home is literally “man to his place.” The Hebrew word for man means “each one” in this context. This whole clause may be rendered “Send all the others home” (New Living Translation), “Let all the others go home,” or “Tell everyone else to go home” (Good News Translation).
Contemporary English Version keeps the emphasis on the smaller group of soldiers by changing the order of the sentences in this verse as follows: “The LORD said, ‘Gideon, your army will be made up of everyone who lapped the water from their hands. Send the others home. I’m going to rescue Israel by helping you and your army of three hundred defeat the Midianites.’ ” This will be a good model for some languages. Other possible models are:
• Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With only the three hundred who lapped the water I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. All the others should return home.”
• Then Yahweh said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with just the three hundred warriors who lapped the water, and I will give you power over the Midianites. Send all the others home.”
Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .