Judges 8

1The men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done this thing to us without calling us when you went to fight Midian?" They quarreled with him sharply.

2He said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Aren't Ephraim's gleanings better than Abiezer's vintage?"

3God gave the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hands—what was I able to do like you? Then their anger subsided toward him when he spoke this word.

4Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed it—he and the three hundred men with him—weary yet pursuing.

5He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people following me, for they are weary and I pursue Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian."

6The captains of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your grasp, that we should give bread to your army?"

7Gideon said, "Therefore when Yahweh delivers Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the wilderness thorns and briers."

8He went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way; the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.

9He also said to the men of Penuel, "When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower."

10Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their armies alongside them, about fifteen thousand—all remaining of the entire host of the sons of the east—for one hundred twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.

11Gideon advanced along the path of tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and struck the camp while it lay secure.

12Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and terrified their entire army.

13Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle from the Ascent of Heres.

14He captured a young man from the men of Succoth, questioned him, and he listed for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

15He came to the men of Succoth and said, "See, here are Zebah and Zalmunna, whom you taunted me about, saying, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your weary men?'"

16He took the city's elders, thorns from the wilderness, and briers, and taught the men of Succoth with them.

17He demolished the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

18He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What were the men like whom you killed at Tabor?" They answered, "Like you, like them; each one had the appearance of a king's son."

19He said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had let them live, I would not have killed you."

20He said to Jether his firstborn, "Rise, kill them." But the youth did not draw his sword, for he feared because he was still a youth.

21Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so his strength." Gideon arose, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

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

23Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you."

24Gideon said to them, "Let me ask one request of you: give me each man's earring from his spoil." For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.

25They replied, "We gladly give it." They spread the garment, and every man threw an earring from his plunder into it.

26The golden earrings he requested weighed one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the crescent ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments worn by Midian's kings, and apart from the chains around their camels' necks.

27Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves after it there, so it became a snare to Gideon and his house.

28Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they lifted their heads no more. The land was quiet forty years in the days of Gideon.

29Jerubbaal son of Joash went and settled in his house.

30Gideon had seventy sons who came forth from his loins, for he had many wives.

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

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

33When Gideon died, the sons of Israel turned back and whored after the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god.

34The sons of Israel did not remember Yahweh their God, who had rescued them from the power of all their enemies on every side.

35They showed no kindness to the house of Jerubbaal Gideon, according to all the good he had done for Israel.