Iudicum 8
1 Dixeruntque ad eum viri Ephraim: Quid est hoc quod facere voluisti, ut nos non vocares, cum ad pugnam pergeres contra Madian? Iurgantes fortiter, et prope vim inferentes.
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 Quibus ille respondit: Quod enim tale facere potui, quale vos fecistis? Nonne melior est racemus Ephraim, vindemiis Abiezer?
“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 In manus vestras Dominus tradidit principes Madian, Oreb, et Zeb: quid tale facere potui, quale vos fecistis? Quod cum locutus esset, requievit spiritus eorum, quo tumebant contra eum.
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 Cumque venisset Gedeon ad Iordanem, transivit eum cum trecentis viris, qui secum erant: et præ lassitudine, fugientes persequi non poterant.
Then Gideon crossed the Jordan with his three hundred men. Even though they were exhausted they continued the chase.
5 Dixitque ad viros Soccoth: Date, obsecro, panes populo, qui mecum est, quia valde defecerunt: ut possimus persequi Zebee, et Salmana reges Madian.
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 Responderunt principes Soccoth: Forsitan palmæ manuum Zebee et Salmana in manu tua sunt, et idcirco postulas ut demus exercitui tuo panes.
But the Succoth town leaders replied, “Why should we give your army bread when you haven't even captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet?”
7 Quibus ille ait: Cum ergo tradiderit Dominus Zebee et Salmana in manus meas, conteram carnes vestras cum spinis, tribulisque deserti.
“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 Et inde conscendens, venit in Phanuel: locutusque est ad viros loci illius similia. Cui et illi responderunt, sicut responderant viri Soccoth.
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 Dixit itaque et eis: Cum reversus fuero victor in pace, destruam turrim hanc.
So he told them, “When I return victorious, I'll demolish this tower!”
10 Zebee autem et Salmana requiescebant cum omni exercitu suo. Quindecim enim millia viri remanserant ex omnibus turmis Orientalium populorum, cæsis centum viginti millibus bellatorum educentium gladium.
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 Ascendensque Gedeon per viam eorum, qui in tabernaculis morabantur, ad Orientalem partem Nobe, et Iegbaa, percussit castra hostium, qui securi erant, et nihil adversi suspicabantur.
Gideon took the caravan route to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, catching them offguard.
12 Fugeruntque Zebee et Salmana, quos persequens Gedeon comprehendit, turbato omni exercitu eorum.
Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, but he chased after the two Midianite kings and captured them, defeating the whole of their terrified army.
13 Revertensque de bello ante solis ortum,
Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle through the Heres Pass.
14 apprehendit puerum de viris Soccoth: interrogavitque eum nomina principum et seniorum Soccoth, et descripsit septuaginta septem viros.
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 Venitque ad Soccoth, et dixit eis: En Zebee, et Salmana super quibus exprobrastis mihi, dicentes: Forsitan manus Zebee et Salmana in manibus tuis sunt, et idcirco postulas ut demus viris qui lassi sunt, et defecerunt panes.
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 Tulit ergo seniores civitatis et spinas deserti ac tribulos, et contrivit cum eis, atque comminuit viros Soccoth.
So he took the town elders of Succoth and taught them a lesson using thorns and briers from the desert.
17 Turrim quoque Phanuel subvertit, occisis habitatoribus civitatis.
He also demolished the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.
18 Dixitque ad Zebee et Salmana: Quales fuerunt viri, quos occidistis in Thabor? Qui responderunt: Similes tui, et unus ex eis quasi filius regis.
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 Quibus ille respondit: Fratres mei fuerunt, filii matris meæ. Vivit Dominus, quia si servassetis eos, non vos occiderem.
“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 Dixitque Iether primogenito suo: Surge, et interfice eos. Qui non eduxit gladium: timebat enim, quia adhuc puer erat.
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 Dixeruntque Zebee et Salmana: Tu surge, et irrue in nos: quia iuxta ætatem robur est hominis. Surrexit Gedeon, et interfecit Zebee et Salmana: et tulit ornamenta ac bullas, quibus colla regalium camelorum decorari solent.
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 Dixeruntque omnes viri Israel ad Gedeon: Dominare nostri tu, et filius tuus, et filius filii tui: quia liberasti nos de manu Madian.
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 Quibus ille ait: Non dominabor vestri, nec dominabitur in vos filius meus, sed dominabitur vobis Dominus.
“I won't be your ruler, and my son won't either,” Gideon replied. “The Lord will be your ruler.”
24 Dixitque ad eos: Unam petitionem postulo a vobis: Date mihi inaures ex præda vestra. Inaures enim aureas Ismaelitæ habere consueverant.
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 Qui responderunt: Libentissime dabimus. Expandentesque super terram pallium, proiecerunt in eo inaures de præda:
“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 et fuit pondus postulatarum inaurium, mille septingenti auri sicli, absque ornamentis, et monilibus, et veste purpurea, quibus reges Madian uti soliti erant, et præter torques aureas camelorum.
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 Fecitque ex eo Gedeon ephod, et posuit illud in civitate sua Ephra. Fornicatusque est omnis Israel in eo, et factum est Gedeoni et omni domui eius in ruinam.
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 Humiliatus est autem Madian coram filiis Israel, nec potuerunt ultra cervices elevare: sed quievit terra per quadraginta annos, quibus Gedeon præfuit.
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 Abiit itaque Ierobaal filius Ioas, et habitavit in domo sua:
Jerub-baal, son of Joash, went home, living his own house.
30 habuitque septuaginta filios, qui egressi sunt de femore eius: eo quod plures haberet uxores.
Gideon had seventy sons, all his own, because he had many wives.
31 Concubina autem illius, quam habebat in Sichem, genuit ei filium nomine Abimelech.
His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also had a son. He named him Abimelech.
32 Mortuusque est Gedeon filius Ioas in senectute bona, et sepultus est in sepulchro Ioas patris sui in Ephra de familia Ezri.
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 Postquam autem mortuus est Gedeon, aversi sunt filii Israel, et fornicati sunt cum Baalim. Percusseruntque cum Baal fœdus, ut esset eis in deum:
But as soon as Gideon died, the Israelites went back to prostituting themselves, worshiping before the Baals. They made Baal-berith their god.
34 nec recordati sunt Domini Dei sui, qui eruit eos de manibus inimicorum suorum omnium per circuitum:
They forgot about the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies that surrounded them.
35 nec fecerunt misericordiam cum domo Ierobaal Gedeon iuxta omnia bona, quæ fecerat Israeli.
They did not show any respect to the family of Jerub-baal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.
