Judges 8

1 And the men of Ephraim say unto him, 'What [is] this thing thou hast done to us — not to call for us when thou didst go to fight with Midian?' and they strive with him severely;

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 and he saith unto them, 'What have I done now like you? are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the harvest of Abi-Ezer?

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

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 cometh in unto the Jordan, passing over, he and the three hundred men who [are] with him — wearied, and pursuing,

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 saith to the men of Succoth, 'Give, I pray you, 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 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 heads of Succoth say, 'Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand, that we give to thy host bread?'

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 And Gideon saith, 'Therefore — in Jehovah's giving Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand — I have threshed your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with the threshing instruments.'

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 goeth up thence [to] Penuel, and speaketh unto them thus; and the men of Penuel answer 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 speaketh also to the men of Penuel, saying, 'In my turning back in peace, I break down this tower.'

So he said to the men of Peniel, “After I defeat those kings, I will return and tear down 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] a hundred and twenty thousand men, drawing sword.

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 goeth up the way of those who tabernacle in tents, on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smiteth the camp, and the camp was confident;

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 Zebab and Zalmunna flee, and he pursueth after them, and captureth the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and all the camp he hath caused to tremble.

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

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

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

14 and captureth a young man of the men of Succoth, and asketh him, and he describeth unto him the heads of Succoth, and its elders — seventy and seven 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 cometh in unto the men of Succoth, and saith, 'Lo Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye reproached me, saying, Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand that we give to thy men who [are] wearied bread?'

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 And he taketh the elders of the city, and the thorns of the wilderness, and the threshing instruments, and teacheth by them the men of Succoth,

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 and the tower of Penuel he hath broken down, and slayeth the men of the city.

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

18 And he saith unto Zebah and unto Zalmunna, 'How — the men whom ye slew in Tabor?' and they say, 'As thou — so they, one — as the form of the king's sons.'

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 saith, 'My brethren — sons of my mother — they; Jehovah liveth, if ye had kept them alive — I had not slain 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 And he saith to Jether his first-born, 'Rise, slay them;' and the young man hath not drawn his sword, for he hath been afraid, for he [is] yet a youth.

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 And Zebah saith — also Zalmunna — 'Rise thou, and fall upon us; for as the man — his might;' and Gideon riseth, and slayeth Zebah and Zalmunna, and taketh their round ornaments which [are] on the necks of their camels.

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 And the men of Israel say unto Gideon, 'Rule over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, for thou hast saved us from 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 saith unto them, 'I do not rule over you, nor doth my son rule over you; Jehovah doth rule over 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 And Gideon saith unto them, 'Let me ask of you a petition, and give ye to me each the ring of his prey, for they have rings of gold, for they [are] Ishmaelites.'

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 say, 'We certainly give;' and they spread out the garment, and cast thither each the ring of his prey;

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 rings of gold which he asked is a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, apart from the round ornaments, and the drops, 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 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 maketh it into an ephod, and setteth it up in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel go a-whoring after it there, and it is to Gideon and to his house for a snare.

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 And Midian is humbled before the sons of Israel, and have not added to lift up their head; and the land resteth forty years in the days 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 And Jerubbaal son of Joash goeth and dwelleth in his own house,

Gideon went back home to live there.

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

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

31 and his concubine, who [is] in Shechem, hath born to him — even she — a son, and he appointeth his name Abimelech.

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

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

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 And it cometh to pass, when Gideon [is] dead, that the sons of Israel turn back and go a-whoring after the Baalim, and set over them Baal-Berith for a 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 sons of Israel have not remembered Jehovah their God, who is delivering them out of the hand of all their enemies round about,

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

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

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