士师记 8
1 以法莲人对基甸说：“你去与米甸人争战，没有招我们同去，为什么这样待我们呢？”他们就与基甸大大地争吵。
Then the men of Ephraim asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us like this? Why didn't you call us when you went to attack the Midianite?” They argued furiously with him.
2 基甸对他们说：“我所行的岂能比你们所行的呢？以法莲拾取剩下的葡萄不强过亚比以谢所摘的葡萄吗？
“Now what have I achieved in comparison to you?” Gideon replied. “Even Ephraim's left-over grapes are better than Abiezer's whole grape harvest!
3 神已将米甸人的两个首领俄立和西伊伯交在你们手中；我所行的岂能比你们所行的呢？”基甸说了这话，以法莲人的怒气就消了。
God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two Midianite commanders. What have I managed to achieve in comparison to you?” When he told them this their animosity towards him died down.
4 基甸和跟随他的三百人到约旦河过渡，虽然疲乏，还是追赶。
Then Gideon crossed the Jordan with his three hundred men. Even though they were exhausted they continued the chase.
5 基甸对疏割人说：“求你们拿饼来给跟随我的人吃，因为他们疲乏了；我们追赶米甸人的两个王西巴和撒慕拿。”
When they got to Succoth, Gideon asked the people there, “Please provide some bread to the men with me because they're worn out—I'm pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings.”
6 疏割人的首领回答说：“西巴和撒慕拿已经在你手里，你使我们将饼给你的军兵吗？”
But the Succoth town leaders replied, “Why should we give your army bread when you haven't even captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet?”
7 基甸说：“耶和华将西巴和撒慕拿交在我手之后，我就用野地的荆条和枳棘打伤你们。”
“In that case, once the Lord has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I'll return and thrash you with thorns and briers from the desert!” Gideon replied.
8 基甸从那里上到毗努伊勒，对那里的人也是这样说；毗努伊勒人也与疏割人回答他的话一样。
He left and went to Penuel and asked them the same thing, but the people of Penuel answered the same way as the people of Succoth.
9 他向毗努伊勒人说：“我平平安安回来的时候，我必拆毁这楼。”
So he told them, “When I return victorious, I'll demolish this tower!”
10 那时西巴和撒慕拿，并跟随他们的军队都在加各，约有一万五千人，就是东方人全军所剩下的；已经被杀约有十二万拿刀的。
Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies of around fifteen thousand men. These were all who remained of the armies of the people of the East—one hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already been killed.
11 基甸就由挪巴和约比哈东边，从住帐棚人的路上去，杀败了米甸人的军兵，因为他们坦然无惧。
Gideon took the caravan route to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, catching them offguard.
12 西巴和撒慕拿逃跑；基甸追赶他们，捉住米甸的二王西巴和撒慕拿，惊散全军。
Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, but he chased after the two Midianite kings and captured them, defeating the whole of their terrified army.
13 约阿施的儿子基甸由希列斯坡从阵上回来，
Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle through the Heres Pass.
14 捉住疏割的一个少年人，问他：“疏割的首领长老是谁？”他就将首领长老七十七个人的名字写出来。
There he captured a young man from Succoth and questioned him. The man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth.
15 基甸到了疏割，对那里的人说：“你们从前讥诮我说：‘西巴和撒慕拿已经在你手里，你使我们将饼给跟随你的疲乏人吗？’现在西巴和撒慕拿在这里。”
Gideon went and said to the Sukkoth town leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, the ones you taunted me about when you said, ‘Why should we give your exhausted army bread when you haven't even captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet?’”
16 于是捉住那城内的长老，用野地的荆条和枳棘责打疏割人；
So he took the town elders of Succoth and taught them a lesson using thorns and briers from the desert.
17 又拆了毗努伊勒的楼，杀了那城里的人。
He also demolished the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.
18 基甸问西巴和撒慕拿说：“你们在他泊山所杀的人是什么样式？”回答说：“他们好像你，各人都有王子的样式。”
Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were they like, the men you killed at Tabor?” “They looked like you,” they answered. “Each of them had the stature of a prince.”
19 基甸说：“他们是我同母的弟兄，我指着永生的耶和华起誓，你们从前若存留他们的性命，我如今就不杀你们了。”
“Those were my brothers, my mother's sons,” Gideon burst out. “As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I wouldn't kill you!”
20 于是对他的长子益帖说：“你起来杀他们。”但益帖因为是童子，害怕，不敢拔刀。
He told Jether, his oldest son, “Go on, kill them!” But the boy refused to draw his sword, because he was young and afraid.
21 西巴和撒慕拿说：“你自己起来杀我们吧！因为人如何，力量也是如何。”基甸就起来，杀了西巴和撒慕拿，夺获他们骆驼项上戴的月牙圈。
Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, you do it! Show yourself a man and kill us!” So Gideon went over and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments from the necks of their camels.
22 以色列人对基甸说：“你既救我们脱离米甸人的手，愿你和你的儿孙管理我们。”
Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “You must become our ruler, you, your son, and your grandson; because you've saved us from the Midianites.”
23 基甸说：“我不管理你们，我的儿子也不管理你们，惟有耶和华管理你们。”
“I won't be your ruler, and my son won't either,” Gideon replied. “The Lord will be your ruler.”
24 基甸又对他们说：“我有一件事求你们：请你们各人将所夺的耳环给我。”（原来仇敌是以实玛利人，都是戴金耳环的。）
Then Gideon said, “I have a request to ask of you: that each of you give me an earring from your plunder.” (Their enemies were Ishmaelites and wore gold earrings.)
25 他们说：“我们情愿给你”，就铺开一件外衣，各人将所夺的耳环丢在其上。
“We'll happily give them to you,” they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each of them threw on it earrings from their plunder.
26 基甸所要出来的金耳环重一千七百舍客勒金子。此外还有米甸王所戴的月环、耳坠，和所穿的紫色衣服，并骆驼项上的金链子。
The weight of the earrings he'd asked for was 1,700 shekels, not including the ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the Midianite kings or the chains that were round their camels' necks.
27 基甸以此制造了一个以弗得，设立在本城俄弗拉。后来以色列人拜那以弗得行了邪淫；这就作了基甸和他全家的网罗。
From the gold Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in his hometown of Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves there by worshiping it as an idol, and it became a trap to Gideon and his family.
28 这样，米甸人被以色列人制伏了，不敢再抬头。基甸还在的日子，国中太平四十年。
This is how the Midianites was subjugated before the Israelites and did not gain power again. So the land was at peace for forty years during the lifetime of Gideon.
29 约阿施的儿子耶路·巴力回去，住在自己家里。
Jerub-baal, son of Joash, went home, living his own house.
30 基甸有七十个亲生的儿子，因为他有许多的妻。
Gideon had seventy sons, all his own, because he had many wives.
31 他的妾住在示剑，也给他生了一个儿子。基甸与他起名叫亚比米勒。
His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also had a son. He named him Abimelech.
32 约阿施的儿子基甸，年纪老迈而死，葬在亚比以谢族的俄弗拉，在他父亲约阿施的坟墓里。
Gideon, son of Joash, died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 基甸死后，以色列人又去随从诸巴力行邪淫，以巴力·比利土为他们的神。
But as soon as Gideon died, the Israelites went back to prostituting themselves, worshiping before the Baals. They made Baal-berith their god.
34 以色列人不记念耶和华—他们的 神，就是拯救他们脱离四围仇敌之手的，
They forgot about the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies that surrounded them.
35 也不照着耶路·巴力，就是基甸向他们所施的恩惠厚待他的家。
They did not show any respect to the family of Jerub-baal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.
