CHAPTER 8
Then the men
of Ephraim
said
to Gideon,
“Why
have you done
this
to us?
Why did you fail
to call
us
when
you went
to fight
against Midian?”
And they contended
with him violently.
But he said
to them,
“What
have I accomplished
now
in comparison with you?
Are not
the gleanings
of Ephraim
better
than the grape harvest
of Abiezer?
God
has delivered
Oreb
and Zeeb,
the two princes
of Midian,
into your hands.
What
was I able
to do
in comparison with you?”
When he said
this,
their anger
toward him
subsided.
Then Gideon
and his
three
hundred
men
came
to the Jordan
and crossed it,
exhausted
yet still in pursuit.
So Gideon said
to the men
of Succoth,
“Please
give
my troops
some
bread,
for
they
are exhausted,
and I
am still pursuing
Zebah
and Zalmunna,
the kings
of Midian.”
But the leaders
of Succoth
asked,
“Are the hands
of Zebah
and Zalmunna
already
in your possession,
that
we should give
bread
to your army?”
“Very well,”
Gideon
replied,
“when the LORD
has delivered
Zebah
and
Zalmunna
into my hands,
I will tear
your flesh
with
the thorns
and briers
of the wilderness!”
From there
he went up
to Penuel
and asked
the same
from them,
but the men
of Penuel
gave the same response
as
the men
of Succoth.
Now Zebah
and Zalmunna
were in Karkor
with
their army
of about fifteen
thousand men—
all
that were left
of
the armies
of the people
of the East.
A hundred
and twenty
thousand
swordsmen
had already fallen.
And Gideon
went up
by way of the caravan
route
east
of Nobah
and Jogbehah,
and he attacked
their army,
taking them
by surprise.
When Zebah
and Zalmunna
fled,
Gideon pursued
and captured
these two
kings
of Midian,
routing
their entire
army.
There he captured
a young man
of Succoth
and interrogated him.
The young man wrote down
for him
the names of the seventy-seven
leaders
and elders
of Succoth.
And Gideon went
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 possession,
that
we should give
bread
to your weary
men?'"
Then he took
the elders
of the city,
and using
the thorns
and briers
of the wilderness,
he disciplined
the men
of Succoth.
Next, Gideon asked
Zebah
and Zalmunna,
“What kind
of men
did you kill
at Tabor?”
“Men like you,”
they answered,
“each one
resembling
the son
of a king.”
“They
were my brothers,”
Gideon replied,
“the sons
of my mother!
As surely as the LORD
lives,
if
you had let them live,
I would not
kill
you.”
So he said
to Jether,
his firstborn,
“Get up
and kill them.”
But the young man
did not
draw
his sword;
he was fearful
because
he was still
a youth.
Then Zebah
and Zalmunna
said,
“Get up
and kill
us yourself,
for
as the man is,
so is his strength.”
So Gideon
arose
and killed
Zebah
and Zalmunna,
and he took
the crescent ornaments
from the necks
of their camels.
Then the Israelites
said
to
Gideon,
“Rule over us—
you,
and
your son
and
grandson—
for
you have delivered us
from the hand
of Midian.”
Then he
added,
“Let me make a request
of you,
that each of you
give
me an earring
from his plunder.”
(Now
the enemy had gold
earrings
because
they
were Ishmaelites.)
“We will give them
gladly,”
they replied.
So they spread out
a garment,
and each man
threw
an earring
from his plunder
onto it.
The weight
of the gold
earrings
he had requested
was
1,700
shekels,
in addition to
the crescent ornaments,
the pendants,
the purple
garments
of
the kings
of Midian,
and the chains
from the necks
of their camels.
From all this Gideon
made
an ephod,
which he placed
in Ophrah,
his hometown.
But soon all
Israel
prostituted themselves
by worshiping it
there,
and it became
a snare
to Gideon
and his household.
In this way Midian
was subdued
before
the Israelites
and did not
raise
its head
again.
So the land
had rest
for forty
years
in the days
of Gideon,
Later, Gideon
son
of Joash
died
at a ripe
old age
and was buried
in the tomb
of his father
Joash
in Ophrah
of the Abiezrites.
And
as soon as
Gideon
was dead,
the Israelites
turned
and prostituted themselves
with
the Baals,
and they set up
Baal-berith
as their god.
The Israelites
failed
to remember
the LORD
their God
who had delivered
them
from the hands
of all
their enemies
on every side.
They did not
show
kindness
to
the house
of Jerubbaal
(that is, Gideon)
for all
the good things
he had done
for
Israel.