Shoftim - Chapter 8

1. And the men of Ephraim said to him, "What is this thing that you have done to us; not to call us, when you went to fight with Midian?" And they quarelled with him vehemently.

2. And he said to them, "What have I done now in comparison with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

3. Into your hands has God given the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger was abated toward him, when he said this thing.

4. And Gideon came to the Jordan; he crossed, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint and (yet) pursuing.

5. And he said to the men of Succoth, "Give now loaves of bread to the people that follow me, for they are faint, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."

6. And the officials of Succoth said, "Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give your army bread?"

7. And Gideon said, "Therefore when the Lord delivers Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh (with) the thorns of the wilderness and with the briers."

8. And when he went up from there to Penuel, and he spoke to them in a like manner; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.

9. And he said also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I come back in peace, I will break down this tower."

10. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand (men), all that were left of all the camp of the children of the east; for they that fell were a hundred and twenty thousand men that drew the sword.

11. And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he smote the camp, for the camp was secure.

12. And Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued after them; and he captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and all the camp he terrified.

13. And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle when the sun was still high.

14. And he caught a youth of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he wrote down for him the officials of Succoth, and its elders, seventy-seven men.

15. And he came to the men of Succoth, and he said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna (about) whom you did taunt me, saying, 'Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your tired men bread?"

16. And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and the briers, and with them he broke the men of Succoth.

17. And he broke down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.

18. And he said to Zebah and to Zalmunna, "Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?" And they said, "As you are, so were they; one was as the form of the children of the king."

19. And 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."

20. And he said to Jether, his first born, "Stand up, (and) kill them." But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still young.

21. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "You stand up and kill us; for as the man is, so is his strength." And Gideon arose, and he killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

22. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you, and your son, also your son's son; for you have saved us from the hand of Midian."

23. And Gideon said to them, "I shall not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you."

24. And Gideon said to them, "I would make a request of you, that you give me, every man, the nose-ring of his spoil." For they had golden nose-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.

25. And they said, "We shall willingly give." And they spread out the garment, and every man threw therein the nose-ring of his spoil.

26. And the weight of the golden nose-rings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred (dinars of) gold, beside the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple garments that were on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were on the necks of their camels.

27. And Gideon made it into an Ephod, and he set it up in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel went astray after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

28. Now Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they did not continue to raise their heads. And the land rested forty years in the days of Gideon.

29. And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his house.

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

31. And his concubine who was in Shechem, she also bore him a son. And he designated his name Abimelech.

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

33. And it was, when Gideon died, that the children of Israel turned again astray after the Baalim; and they made for themselves Baal-berith for a god.

34. And the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from the hand of all their enemies around.

35. And they did not do kindness with the house of Jerubbaal, (who was) Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had done to Israel.