Judges 8

1 And the men of Ephraim say to him, “What [is] this thing you have done to us—not to call for us when you went to fight with Midian?” And they strive with him severely;

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 and he says to them, “What have I now done like you? Are the gleanings of Ephraim not better than the harvest of Abi-Ezer?

“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 God has given the heads of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hand; and what have I been able to do like you?” Then their temper desisted from off him in his speaking this thing.

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 And Gideon comes to the Jordan, passing over, he and the three hundred men who [are] with him—wearied, yet pursuing—

Then Gideon crossed the Jordan with his three hundred men. Even though they were exhausted they continued the chase.

5 and he says to the men of Succoth, “Please give cakes of bread to the people who [are] at my feet, for they [are] wearied, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”

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 And the heads of Succoth say, “Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we give bread to your host?”

But the Succoth town leaders replied, “Why should we give your army bread when you haven't even captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet?”

7 And Gideon says, “Therefore—in YHWH’s giving Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand—I have threshed your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with the threshing instruments.”

“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 And he goes up there [to] Penuel, and speaks to them thus; and the men of Penuel answer him as the men of Succoth answered.

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 And he also speaks to the men of Penuel, saying, “In my turning back in peace, I break down this tower.”

So he told them, “When I return victorious, I'll demolish this tower!”

10 And Zebah and Zalmunna [are] in Karkor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand, all who are left of all the camp of the sons of the east; and those falling [are] one hundred and twenty thousand men, drawing sword.

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 And Gideon goes up the way of those who dwell in tents, on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and strikes the camp, and the camp was confident;

Gideon took the caravan route to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, catching them offguard.

12 and Zebab and Zalmunna flee, and he pursues after them, and captures the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he has caused all the camp to tremble.

Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, but he chased after the two Midianite kings and captured them, defeating the whole of their terrified army.

13 And Gideon son of Joash turns back from the battle, at the going up of the sun,

Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle through the Heres Pass.

14 and captures a young man of the men of Succoth, and asks him, and he describes to him the heads of Succoth, and its elderly—seventy-seven men.

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 And he comes to the men of Succoth and says, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom you reproached me, saying, Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand that we give bread to your men who [are] wearied?”

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 And he takes the elderly of the city, and [the] thorns of the wilderness, and the threshing instruments, and teaches the men of Succoth by them,

So he took the town elders of Succoth and taught them a lesson using thorns and briers from the desert.

17 and he has broken down the Tower of Penuel, and slays the men of the city.

He also demolished the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.

18 And he says to Zebah and to Zalmunna, “What manner of men [were they] whom you slew in Tabor?” And they say, “As you—so they, [each] one as the form of the king’s sons.”

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 And he says, “They [were] my brothers—sons of my mother; YHWH lives, if you had kept them alive—I would not kill you.”

“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 And he says to his firstborn Jether, “Rise, slay them”; and the young man has not drawn his sword, for he has been afraid, for he [is] yet a youth.

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 And Zebah and Zalmunna say, “Rise and fall on us; for as the man—his might”; and Gideon rises, and slays Zebah and Zalmunna, and takes the crescents which [are] on the necks of their camels.

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 And the men of Israel say to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you, and your son, and your son’s son, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

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 And Gideon says to them, “I do not rule over you, nor does my son rule over you; YHWH rules over you.”

“I won't be your ruler, and my son won't either,” Gideon replied. “The Lord will be your ruler.”

24 And Gideon says to them, “Let me ask a petition of you, and each give to me the ring of his prey, for they have rings of gold, for they [are] Ishmaelites.”

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 And they say, “We certainly give”; and they spread out the garment, and each casts the ring of his prey there;

“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 and the weight of the rings of gold which he asked for is one thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, apart from the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple garments, which [are] on the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains which [are] on the necks of their camels,

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 and Gideon makes it into an ephod, and sets it up in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel go whoring after it there, and it is for a snare to Gideon and to his house.

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 And Midian is humbled before the sons of Israel, and have not added to lift up their head; and the land rests [for] forty years in the days of Gideon.

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 And Jerubba‘al son of Joash goes and dwells in his own house,

Jerub-baal, son of Joash, went home, living his own house.

30 and there have been seventy sons of Gideon, coming out of his loin, for he had many wives;

Gideon had seventy sons, all his own, because he had many wives.

31 and his concubine, who [is] in Shechem, has borne to him—even she—a son, and he appoints his name Abimelech.

His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also had a son. He named him Abimelech.

32 And Gideon son of Joash dies, in a good old age, and is buried in the burying-place of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abi-Ezrite.

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 And it comes to pass, when Gideon [is] dead, that the sons of Israel turn back and go whoring after the Ba‘alim, and set Ba‘al-Berith over them for a god;

But as soon as Gideon died, the Israelites went back to prostituting themselves, worshiping before the Baals. They made Baal-berith their god.

34 and the sons of Israel have not remembered their God YHWH, who is delivering them out of the hand of all their surrounding enemies,

They forgot about the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies that surrounded them.

35 neither have they done kindness with the house of Jerubba‘al—Gideon—according to all the good which he did with Israel.

They did not show any respect to the family of Jerub-baal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.