Judges 8

1 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.

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;

2 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.

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?

3 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.

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.

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

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

5 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.”

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.”

6 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].”

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

7 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!”

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.”

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

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.

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

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

10 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.

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.

11 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.

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;

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

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.

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

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

14 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.

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.

15 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.’”

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?”

16 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].

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,

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

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

18 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.”

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.”

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

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

20 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].

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.

21 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.

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.

22 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.”

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.”

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

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

24 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.]

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.”

25 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].

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

26 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.

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,

27 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].

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.

28 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.

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.

29 Gideon went back home to live there.

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

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

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

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

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

32 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.

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.

33 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.

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;

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

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

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

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