Judges 8

¹ The men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they argued fiercely with him.

² He answered them, “What have I done now compared with you? Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

³ God gave the commanders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hands. What could I have done compared with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

⁴ Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed it, he and the three hundred men with him, exhausted but still pursuing.

⁵ He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to the troops following me, because they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶ The leaders of Succoth answered, “Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?”

⁷ Gideon said, “Very well. When the LORD gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will thrash your flesh with thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”

⁸ From there he went up to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.

⁹ So he said to the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor, and their armies were with them, about fifteen thousand men—all who remained of the entire army of the eastern peoples. Those who had fallen numbered one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword.

¹¹ Gideon went up by the road of the tent dwellers, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army, which was unsuspecting.

¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he pursued them. He captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw the whole army into panic.

¹³ Gideon son of Joash returned from battle by the ascent of Heres.

¹⁴ He captured a young man from among the men of Succoth and questioned him. The young man wrote down for Gideon the leaders and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.

¹⁵ He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, because of whom you mocked me, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your exhausted men?’”

¹⁶ He took the elders of the city and taught the men of Succoth a lesson with thorns of the wilderness and briers.

¹⁷ He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “They were like you; each one looked like a king’s son.”

¹⁹ He said, “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As surely as the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

²⁰ He said to Jether, his oldest son, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword, because he was afraid; he was still young.

²¹ Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up yourself and strike us, for a man’s strength matches the man.” So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments from their camels’ necks.

²² The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandson—because you have rescued us from the hand of Midian.”

²³ Gideon answered them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”

²⁴ Gideon also said to them, “I have one request: let each of you give me an earring from his share of the plunder.” They had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.

²⁵ They answered, “We will gladly give them.” They spread out a cloak, and each man threw onto it an earring from his share of the plunder.

²⁶ The weight of the gold earrings he requested was seventeen hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the necklaces around their camels’ necks.

²⁷ Gideon made an ephod from it and set it up in his city, in Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves there by worshiping it, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

²⁸ Midian was subdued before the Israelites and never again lifted its head. The land was at peace for forty years during Gideon’s lifetime.

²⁹ Jerubbaal son of Joash went to live in his own house.

³⁰ Gideon had seventy sons of his own, because he had many wives.

³¹ His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

³² Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves by following the Baals, and they made Baal-berith their god.

³⁴ The Israelites did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies around them.

³⁵ They also did not show loyalty to the household of Jerubbaal—that is, Gideon—in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

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