Judges 8

¹Then the men of Ephraim said to him, What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian ? And they accused him fiercely .

²And he said to them, What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer ?

³God has given into your hands the princes of Midian , Oreb and Zeeb . What have I been able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger against him subsided when he said this .

⁴And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over , he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing .

⁵So he said to the men of Succoth , Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted , and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna , the kings of Midian .

⁶And the officials of Succoth said , Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand , that we should give bread to your army ?

⁷So Gideon said , Well then , when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand , I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers .

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

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

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army , about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East , for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword .

¹¹And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army , for the army felt secure .

¹²And Zebah and Zalmunna fled , and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian , Zebah and Zalmunna , and he threw all the army into a panic .

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

¹⁴And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth , seventy-seven men .

¹⁵And he came to the men of Succoth and said , Behold 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 men who are exhausted ?

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

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

¹⁸Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna , Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor ? They answered , As you are , so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king .

¹⁹And he said , They were my brothers , the sons of my mother . As the Lord lives , if you had saved them alive , I would not kill you.

²⁰So he said to Jether his firstborn , Rise and kill them! But the young man did not draw his sword , for he was afraid , because he was still a young man .

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

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

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

²⁴And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil . (For they had golden earrings , because they were Ishmaelites .)

²⁵And they answered , We will willingly give them. And they spread a cloak , and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil .

²⁶And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 of gold , besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian , and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels .

²⁷And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city , in Ophrah . And all Israel whored after it there , and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family .

²⁸So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel , and they raised their heads no more . And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon .

²⁹Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house .

³⁰Now Gideon had seventy sons , his own offspring , for he had many wives .

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

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

³³As soon as Gideon died , the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god .

³⁴And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God , who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side ,

³⁵and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon ) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel .