Judges 8

1 Then the men of Ephraim sayde vnto him, Why hast thou serued vs thus that thou calledst vs not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? and they chode with him sharply.

Then the descendants of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you acted toward us like this? When you went out to fight against the people of Midian, why did you not summon us [to help you]?” They rebuked Gideon severely.

2 To whom he said, What haue I now done in comparison of you? is not the gleaning of grapes of Ephraim better, then the vintage of Abiezer?

But Gideon replied, “I have done [RHQ] very little compared with what you have done! My small clan of descendants of Abiezer only started the battle, but [your very large group of] descendants of Ephraim [helped me to finish the task very well. It is like] the final grapes of the harvest being much better than the first grapes that are picked.

3 God hath deliuered into your handes the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? and when he had thus spoken, then their spirits abated toward him.

God enabled you to defeat Oreb and Zeeb, the generals of the army from Midian. That is [RHQ] much more important than what I did!” After Gideon told them that, they no longer resented what he had done.

4 And Gideon came to Iorden to passe ouer, hee, and the three hundreth men that were with him, weary, yet pursuing them.

Then Gideon and his 300 men [went east and] crossed the Jordan [River]. Although they were very tired, they continued to pursue their enemies.

5 And he said vnto the men of Succoth, Giue, I pray you, morsels of bread vnto the people that follow me (for they be wearie) that I may follow after Zebah, and Zalmunna Kings of Midian.

When they arrived at Succoth [town], Gideon said to the town leaders, “Please give my men some food! They are very tired. We are pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

6 And the princes of Succoth sayde, Are the handes of Zebah and Zalmunna nowe in thine hads, that we should giue bread vnto thine army?

But the leaders of Succoth replied, “You have not caught [RHQ] Zebah and Zalmunna yet. So why should we give food to your troops [now? Catch them first, and then we will give you food].”

7 Gideon then sayde, Therefore when the Lord hath deliuered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, I will teare your flesh with thornes of the wildernes and with breers.

Gideon replied, “[Because you said that], after Yahweh enables us to defeat Zebah and Zalmunna, we will return. And then we will make whips from thorns from the desert, and with them we will rip the flesh off your bones!”

8 And he went vp thence to Penuel, and spake vnto them likewise, and the men of Penuel answered him, as the men of Succoth answered.

From there, Gideon [and his 300 men] went to Peniel and asked for food there, but the people gave him the same answer.

9 And he sayd also vnto the men of Penuel, When I come againe in peace, I will breake downe this towre.

So he said to the men of Peniel, “After I defeat those kings, I will return and tear down this tower!”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hostes with them, about fifteene thousande, all that were left of all the hostes of them of the East: for there was slaine an hundreth and twentie thousand men, that drew swordes.

By that time, Zebah and Zalmunna had gone to Karkor [town] with 15,000 troops. They were all that were left of the armies that had come from the east. 120,000 of their men had already been killed.

11 And Gideon went through them that dwelt in Tabernacles on the East side of Nobah and Iogbehah, and smote the hoste: for the hoste was carelesse.

Gideon [and his men] went east along the road on which caravans travel. They went past Nobah and Jogbehah [villages] and arrived at the enemy camp by surprise.

12 And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, hee followed after them, and tooke the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the hoste.

Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon’s men pursued them and captured them and all their warriors.

13 So Gideon the sonne of Ioash returned from battel, the sunne being yet hie,

After that, Gideon and his men [took Zebah and Zalmunna with them and] started to return, going through Heres Pass.

14 And tooke a seruant of the me of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he wrote to him the princes of Succoth and the Elders thereof, euen seuentie and seuen men.

There he captured a young man from Succoth, and demanded that he write down the names of all of the leaders in the town. The young man wrote down seventy-seven names.

15 And he came vnto the men of Succoth, and sayd, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, by whome ye vpbrayded me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in thine hands, that we should giue bread vnto thy weary men?

Then Gideon and his men returned to Succoth and said to those leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you made fun of me and said ‘You have not [RHQ] caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet! After you catch them, we will give your exhausted men some food.’”

16 Then he tooke the Elders of the citie, and thornes of the wildernes and breers, and did teare the men of Succoth with them.

Then Gideon’s men took the town leaders and whipped them with whips made from briers from the desert, to teach them [that they deserved to be punished for not giving them any food].

17 Also he brake downe the towre of Penuel, and slew the men of the citie.

Then [they went to] Peniel and tore down the tower, and killed all the men in the town.

18 Then saide he vnto Zebah and Zalmunna, What maner of men were they, whom ye slew at Tabor? and they answered, As thou art, so were they: euery one was like the children of a King.

Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed near Tabor [Mountain], what did they look like?” They replied, “They were like you; they all looked like they were sons of a king.”

19 And he said, They were my brethren, euen my mothers children: as the Lord liueth, if ye had saued their liues, I would not slay you.

Gideon replied, “They were my brothers! Just as surely as Yahweh lives, I would not kill you if you had not killed them.”

20 Then he sayde vnto Iether his first borne sonne, Vp, and slay them: but the boy drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet yong.

Then he turned to his oldest son, Jether. He said to him, “Kill them!” But Jether was only a boy, and he was afraid, so he did not pull out his dagger [to kill them].

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna sayd, Rise thou, and fall vpon vs: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and tooke away the ornamentes, that were on their camels neckes.

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Do not ask a young boy to do the work that a man should do!” So Gideon killed both of them. Then he took the gold ornaments from the necks of their camels.

22 Then the men of Israel sayd vnto Gideon, Reigne thou ouer vs, both thou, and thy sonne, and thy sonnes sonne: for thou hast deliuered vs out of the hand of Midian.

Then a group of Israeli men [came to] Gideon and said to him, “You be our ruler! [We want] you and your son and your grandsons [to] be our rulers, because you rescued us from the Midian army.”

23 And Gideon sayde vnto them, I will not reigne ouer you, neither shall my childe reigne ouer you, but the Lord shall reigne ouer you.

But Gideon replied, “No, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.”

24 Againe Gideon sayd vnto them, I would desire a request of you, that you would giue mee euery man the earings of his pray (for they had golden earings because they were Ismaelites)

Then he said, “I request only one thing. I request that each of you give me one earring from the things you captured after the battle.” [All the men descended from Ishmael wore gold earrings.]

25 And they answered, Wee will giue them. And they spred a garment, and did cast therein euery man the earings of his pray.

They replied, “We will be glad to give earrings to you!” So they spread a cloth [on the ground], and each man threw on it one gold earring that he had taken [from a man he had killed in the battle].

26 And the weight of the golden earings that he required, was a thousande and seuen hundreth shekels of golde, beside collers and iewels, and purple rayment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the cheynes that were about their camels neckes.

The weight of all the earrings was (43 pounds/19.4 kg.). That did not include other things [that they gave to Gideon]—the other ornaments or the pendants or the clothes that the kings of Midian wore or the gold chains that were on the necks of their camels.

27 And Gideon made an Ephod thereof, and put it in Ophrah his citie: and all Israel went a whoring there after it, which was the destruction of Gideon and his house.

Gideon made/decorated a sacred vest from the gold, and later he put it in his hometown, Ophrah. But soon the Israeli people started to worship the vest. So it became like a trap [MET] for the people, [causing them to worship it instead of worshiping only God].

28 Thus was Midian brought lowe before the children of Israel, so that they lift vp their heads no more: and the countrey was in quietnes fourtie yeeres in the dayes of Gideon.

That is how the Israelis defeated the people from Midian. The people of Midian did not become strong enough to attack Israel again. So while Gideon was alive, there was peace in the land for 40 years.

29 Then Ierubbaal the sonne of Ioash went, and dwelt in his owne house.

Gideon went back home to live there.

30 And Gideon had seuentie sonnes begotten of his body: for he had many wiues.

He had many wives, and they bore him seventy sons.

31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, bare him a sonne also, whose name he called Abimelech.

He also had a slave wife in Shechem [town], who bore him a son whom he named Abimelech.

32 So Gideon the sonne of Ioash dyed in a good age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Ioash his father in Ophrah, of the father of ye Ezrites.

Gideon died when he was very old. They buried his body in the grave where his father Joash was buried, at Ophrah, in the land belonging to the descendants of Abiether.

33 But when Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned away and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their God.

But as soon as Gideon died, the Israelis [stopped worshiping God and started worshiping the images of the god Baal, like] [MET] adultresses [leave their husbands and go to sleep with other men]. They made a [statue of a] new god called Baal-Berith.

34 And the children of Israel remembred not the Lord their God, which had deliuered the out of the hands of all their enemies on euery side.

They forgot about Yahweh, the one who had rescued them from all their enemies that surrounded them.

35 Neither shewed they mercy on the house of Ierubbaal, or Gideon, according to al the goodnesse which he had shewed vnto Israel.

And even though Gideon had done many good things for the Israelis, they were not kind to Gideon’s family.