Judges 8

The men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight Midian?” They contended sharply with him. He said to them, “What have I done now compared with you? Are not the grape gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? God gave the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hand. What was I able to do compared with you?” Their anger toward him subsided when he said this. Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed it with the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted but still pursuing. He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people following me, for they are exhausted. I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” The leaders of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” Gideon said, “Then when the LORD gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness.” From there he went up to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. The men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had. So he said to the men of Penuel as well, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.” Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who remained of the whole army of the people of the east. One hundred twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen. Gideon went up by the route of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah. He struck the camp while the army felt secure. Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he pursued them. He captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw the whole army into terror. Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. He captured a young man from Succoth and questioned him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the leaders and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your exhausted men?’” He took the elders of the city and the thorns and briers of the wilderness, and with these he taught the men of Succoth a lesson. He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men you killed at Tabor?” They said, “They were like you; each had the appearance of a king’s son.” He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” He said to Jether his firstborn, “Arise, kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, since he was still a youth. Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Arise yourself and strike us down, for as the man is, so is his strength.” Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from their camels’ necks. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” Gideon said to them, “Let me ask this of you: each of you give me an earring from your spoil.” For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. They said, “We will gladly give them.” They spread out a cloak, and each man threw an earring from his spoil onto it. The gold earrings he had requested weighed about forty-three pounds, apart from the crescent ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains on their camels’ necks. Gideon made it into an ephod and placed it in his city, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household. Midian was subdued before the people of Israel and did not lift up their heads again. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon. Jerubbaal son of Joash went and lived in his own house. Gideon had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. His concubine in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 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. As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned back and prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-berith their god. The people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies around them. Nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

Rights and attribution