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.

And the men of Ephraim came and said to him, Why did you not send for us when you went to war against Midian? And they said sharp and angry words to him.

2 Quibus ille respondit: Quod enim tale facere potui, quale vos fecistis? nonne melior est racemus Ephraim, vindemiis Abiezer?

And he said to them, What have I done in comparison with you? Is not that which Ephraim took up after the grape-cutting better than all the grapes which Abiezer got in from the grape-cutting?

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 has given into your hands the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you? And when he said this, their feeling about him became kinder.

4 Cumque venisset Gedeon ad Iordanem, transivit eum cum trecentis viris, qui secum erant: et prae lassitudine, fugientes persequi non poterant.

Then Gideon came to Jordan and went over it with his three hundred, overcome with weariness and in need of food.

5 Dixitque ad viros Soccoth: Date, obsecro, panes populo, qui mecum est, quia valde defecerunt: ut possimus persequi Zebee, et Salmana reges Madian.

And he said to the men of Succoth, Give bread cakes to my people, for they are overcome with weariness, and I am going on after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.

6 Responderunt principes Soccoth: Forsitan palmae manuum Zebee et Salmana in manu tua sunt, et idcirco postulas ut demus exercitui tuo panes.

But the chiefs of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand that we are to give bread to your army?

7 Quibus ille ait: Cum ergo tradiderit Dominus Zebee et Salmana in manus meas, conteram carnes vestras cum spinis, tribulisque deserti.

Then Gideon said, Because of this, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will have you stretched on a bed of thorns of the waste land and on sharp stems, and have you crushed as grain is crushed on a grain-floor.

8 Et inde conscendens, venit in Phanuel: locutusque est ad viros loci illius similia. Cui et illi responderunt, sicut responderant viri Soccoth.

So he went up from there to Penuel and made the same request to the men of Penuel; but they gave him the same answer as the men of Succoth had given.

9 Dixit itaque et eis: Cum reversus fuero victor in pace, destruam turrim hanc.

So he said to the men of Penuel, When I come back in peace, I will have this tower broken down.

10 Zebee autem et Salmana requiescebant cum omni exercitu suo. Quindecim enim millia viri remanserant ex omnibus turmis Orientalium populorum, caesis centum viginti millibus bellatorum educentium gladium.

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, those of all the army of the children of the east who were still living; for a hundred and twenty thousand of their swordsmen had been put to death.

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.

And Gideon went up by the way used by the people living in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and made an attack on the army when they had no thought of danger.

12 Fugeruntque Zebee et Salmana, quos persequens Gedeon comprehendit, turbato omni exercitu eorum.

And Zebah and Zalmunna went in flight; and he went after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and put all the army to the curse.

13 Revertensque de bello ante solis ortum,

Then Gideon, the son of Joash, went back from the fight:

14 apprehendit puerum de viris Soccoth: interrogavitque eum nomina principum et seniorum Soccoth, et descripsit septuaginta septem viros.

And taking prisoner a young man of the people of Succoth, he got from him, in answer to his questions, a list of the chiefs of Succoth and the responsible men, seventy-seven men.

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.

So he came to the men of Succoth and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, on account of whom you made sport of me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand, that we are to give bread to your army who are overcome with weariness?

16 Tulit ergo seniores civitatis et spinas deserti ac tribulos, et contrivit cum eis, atque comminuit viros Soccoth.

Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems.

17 Turrim quoque Phanuel subvertit, occisis habitatoribus civitatis.

And he had the tower of Penuel broken down and the men of the town put to death.

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 he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, Where are the men whom you put to death at Tabor? And they gave answer, As you are, so were they; every one of them was like a king's son.

19 Quibus ille respondit: Fratres mei fuerunt, filii matris meae. vivit Dominus, quia si servassetis eos, non vos occiderem.

And he said, They were my brothers, my mother's sons: by the life of the Lord, if you had kept them safe, I would not put you to death.

20 Dixitque Iether primogenito suo: Surge, et interfice eos. Qui non eduxit gladium: timebat enim, quia adhuc puer erat.

Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, Up! Put them to death. But the boy did not take out his sword, fearing because he was still a boy.

21 Dixeruntque Zebee et Salmana: Tu surge, et irrue in nos: quia iuxta aetatem robur est hominis. Surrexit Gedeon, et interfecit Zebee et Salmana: et tulit ornamenta ac bullas, quibus colla regalium camelorum decorari solent.

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Up! Put an end to us yourself: for you have a man's strength. Then Gideon got up and put Zebah and Zalmunna to death and took the ornaments which were on their camels' necks.

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 men of Israel said to Gideon, Be our ruler, you and your son and your son's son after him; for you have been our saviour from the hands of Midian.

23 Quibus ille ait: Non dominabor vestri, nec dominabitur in vos filius meus, sed dominabitur vobis Dominus.

But Gideon said to them, I will not be a ruler over you, and my son will not be a ruler over you: it is the Lord who will be ruler over you.

24 Dixitque ad eos: Unam petitionem postulo a vobis: Date mihi inaures ex praeda vestra. Inaures enim aureas Ismaelitae habere consueverant.

Then Gideon said to them, I have a request to make to you; let every man give me the ear-rings he has taken. (For they had gold ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

25 Qui responderunt: Libentissime dabimus. Expandentesque super terram pallium, proiecerunt in eo inaures de praeda:

And they gave answer, We will gladly give them. So they put down a robe, every man dropping into it the ear-rings he had taken.

26 et fuit pondus postulatarum inaurium, mille septingenti auri sicli, absque ornamentis, et monilibus, et veste purpurea, quibus reges Madian uti soliti erant, et praeter torques aureas camelorum.

The weight of the gold ear-rings which he got from them was one thousand, seven hundred shekels of gold; in addition to the moon-ornaments and jewels and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and the chains on 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.

And Gideon made an ephod from them and put it up in his town Ophrah; and all Israel went after it there and were false to the Lord; and it became a cause of sin to Gideon and his house.

28 Humiliatus est autem Madian coram filiis Israel, nec potuerunt ultra cervices elevare: sed quievit terra per quadraginta annos, quibus Gedeon praefuit.

So Midian was broken before the children of Israel and the Midianites never got back their strength. And the land had peace for forty years, in the days of Gideon.

29 Abiit itaque Ierobaal filius Ioas, et habitavit in domo sua:

And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went back to his house and was living there.

30 habuitque septuaginta filios, qui egressi sunt de femore eius: eo quod plures haberet uxores.

Gideon had seventy sons, the offspring of his body; for he had a number of wives.

31 Concubina autem illius, quam habebat in Sichem, genuit ei filium nomine Abimelech.

And the servant-wife he had in Shechem had a son by him, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.

32 Mortuusque est Gedeon filius Ioas in senectute bona, et sepultus est in sepulchro Ioas patris sui in Ephra de familia Ezri.

And Gideon, the son of Joash, came to his end when he was very old, and his body was put in the resting-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33 Postquam autem mortuus est Gedeon, aversi sunt filii Israel, et fornicati sunt cum Baalim. Percusseruntque cum Baal foedus, ut esset eis in deum:

And after the death of Gideon, the children of Israel again went after the gods of Canaan and were false to the Lord, and made Baal-berith their god.

34 nec recordati sunt Domini Dei sui, qui eruit eos de manibus inimicorum suorum omnium per circuitum:

And the children of Israel did not keep in their minds the Lord their God, who had been their saviour from all their haters on every side;

35 nec fecerunt misericordiam cum domo Ierobaal Gedeon iuxta omnia bona, quae fecerat Israeli.

And they were not kind to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in reward for all the good he had done to Israel.