# Judges 8

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/8

Translated from Hebrew and Greek with AI, then checked for clarity and fidelity.

1. The 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.
2. He said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Aren't Ephraim's gleanings better than Abiezer's vintage?"
3. God 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.
4. Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed it—he and the three hundred men with him—weary yet pursuing.
5. He 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."
6. The captains of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your grasp, that we should give bread to your army?"
7. Gideon said, "Therefore when Yahweh delivers Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the wilderness thorns and briers."
8. He 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.
9. He also said to the men of Penuel, "When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower."
10. Zebah 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.
11. Gideon advanced along the path of tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and struck the camp while it lay secure.
12. Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and terrified their entire army.
13. Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle from the Ascent of Heres.
14. He 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.
15. He 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?'"
16. He took the city's elders, thorns from the wilderness, and briers, and taught the men of Succoth with them.
17. He demolished the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18. He 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."
19. He 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."
20. He 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.
21. Zebah 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.
22. The 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.”
23. Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you."
24. Gideon 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.
25. They replied, "We gladly give it." They spread the garment, and every man threw an earring from his plunder into it.
26. The 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.
27. Gideon 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.
28. Midian 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.
29. Jerubbaal son of Joash went and settled in his house.
30. Gideon had seventy sons who came forth from his loins, for he had many wives.
31. His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
32. Gideon son of Joash died in good old age and was buried in Joash his father's tomb in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33. When Gideon died, the sons of Israel turned back and whored after the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god.
34. The sons of Israel did not remember Yahweh their God, who had rescued them from the power of all their enemies on every side.
35. They showed no kindness to the house of Jerubbaal Gideon, according to all the good he had done for Israel.

## Nearby chapters

[Judges 7](https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/7.md)
[Judges 9](https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/9.md)

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