Judges
Chapter 8
1 The men from Ephraim asked him, “Why did you treat us like this, not calling us when you went to fight the Midianites?” And they argued with him strongly.
2 He asked them, “What have I done compared to you? Aren’t even the leftovers of Ephraim’s grapes better than Abiezer’s full harvest?”
3 God has given you control over Midian’s leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. What could I have done compared to you? Then they were no longer angry with him after he said this.
4 Gideon reached the Jordan river, crossed it, and with his three hundred men who were tired but still chasing the enemy.
5 He asked the people of Succoth, “Please give some bread to my followers; they’re tired, and I’m chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite leaders.”
6 The leaders of Succoth said, “Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna captured already, that we should give bread to your soldiers?”
7 Gideon said, “So when God gives me Zebah and Zalmunna, I’ll hurt your skin with wild thorns and prickly plants.”
8 He went from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way; and the people of Penuel replied just as the people of Succoth had.
9 He also told the men of Penuel, “When I come back safely, I will tear down this tower.”
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies, about fifteen thousand men, the only survivors from the eastern people’s armies, because one hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had died.
11 Gideon traveled along the path near the tent-dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, because the army felt safe.
12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, he chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, and defeated their whole army.
13 Gideon, Joash’s son, came back from the fight before sunrise.
14 They caught a young man from Succoth, asked him questions, and he told them about Succoth’s leaders and elders, all seventy-seven men.
15 He went to the people of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You mocked me before, asking, ‘Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna captured so we should give your tired men bread?’”
16 He gathered the city elders, wild thorns, and briers, and with these, he punished the people of Succoth.
17 He destroyed the tower of Penuel and killed the city’s men.
18 He asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” They replied, “They looked like you, every one of them seemed like a prince’s son.”
19 He said, “They were my brothers, my own mother’s sons. If you had let them live, I wouldn’t kill you.”
20 He told his oldest son Jether, “Get up and kill them.” But the boy did not pull out his sword because he was scared, since he was still young.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and attack us, for a man’s power matches his own ability.” And Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and removed the decorations from their camels’ necks.
22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Be our leader, you, your son, and your grandson, because you saved us from Midian.”
23 Gideon said to them, “I will not be your ruler, nor will my son be your ruler: God will be your ruler.”
24 Gideon said to them, “I have a favor to ask: please give me the gold earrings you took from your captives.” (They had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)
25 They replied, “We will gladly give them.” They laid out a cloth and each man threw in the earrings he had taken.
26 The gold earrings he asked for weighed 1,700 shekels, not counting the fancy clothes, necklaces, purple garments worn by Midianite kings, or the chains on their camels’ necks.
27 Gideon made a special vest from them and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel chased after it, which trapped Gideon and his family.
28 Midian was defeated by the Israelites, so they were no longer a threat. And there was peace in the land for forty years during Gideon’s time.
29 Jerubbaal, Joash’s son, went and lived in his own house.
30 Gideon had seventy sons of his own, because he had many wives.
31 His companion in Shechem also had a son for him, and he named him Abimelech.
32 Gideon, son of Joash, died at an old age and was buried in his father Joash’s tomb, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 After Gideon died, the Israelites turned back and followed other gods, choosing Baalberith as their god.
34 The Israelites forgot God, who had saved them from all their enemies around them.
35 They did not show kindness to Jerubbaal’s family, Gideon, despite all the good he had done for Israel.