Judges 7:2-4International Children’s Bible
2 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men to defeat the Midianites. I don’t want the Israelites to brag that they saved themselves. 3 So now, announce to the people, ‘Anyone who is afraid may leave Mount Gilead. He may go back home.’” And 22,000 men went back home. But 10,000 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,’ he will not go.”
Judges 7:13-15International Children’s Bible
13 When Gideon came to the enemy camp, he heard a man talking. That man was telling his friend about a dream. He was saying, “Listen, I dreamed that a loaf of barley bread rolled into the camp of Midian. It hit the tent so hard that the tent turned over and fell flat!”14 The man’s friend said, “Your dream is about the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God will let Gideon defeat Midian and the whole army!”15 When Gideon heard about the dream and what it meant, he worshiped God. Then Gideon went back to the camp of Israel. He called out to them, “Get up! The Lord has defeated the army of Midian for you!”
Judges 8:22-25International Children’s Bible
GIDEON MAKES AN IDOL
22 The people of Israel said to Gideon, “You saved us from the Midianites. So now, rule over us. We want you, your son and your grandson to rule over us.”
23 But Gideon told them, “The Lord will be your ruler. I will not rule over you. And my son will not rule over you.” 24 He said, “I want you to do this one thing for me. I want each of you to give me a gold earring from the things you took in the fighting.” (The Ishmaelite men wore gold earrings. And some Ishmaelites had been defeated in the battle.)
25 So the people of Israel said to Gideon, “We will gladly give you what you want.” So they put a coat down on the ground. Each man threw an earring onto the coat.