Jueces 8
1 Entonces los hombres de Efraín le preguntaron a Gedeón: “¿Por qué nos has tratado así? ¿Por qué no nos llamaste cuando fuiste a atacar a los madianitas?” Allí discutieron acaloradamente con él.
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 “¿Y acaso qué he logrado yo en comparación con ustedes?” respondió Gedeón. “¡Incluso las uvas que sobran en Efraín son mejores que toda la cosecha de uvas de Abiezer!
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 Dios les entregó a Oreb y Zeeb, los dos comandantes madianitas. ¿Qué he conseguido yo a diferencia de ustedes?”. Cuando les dijo esto, su hostilidad hacia él se disipó.
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 Entonces Gedeón cruzó el Jordán con sus trescientos hombres. Aunque estaban agotados, continuaron la búsqueda.
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 Cuando llegaron a Sucot, Gedeón le pidió al pueblo de allí: “Por favor, dénles algo de pan a los hombres que vienen conmigo porque están agotados; estoy persiguiendo a Zeba y Zalmuna, los reyes madianitas”.
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 Pero los dirigentes del pueblo de Sucot respondieron: “¿Por qué habríamos de darle pan a tu ejército si todavía no has capturado a Zeba y Zalmuna?”
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 “¡En ese caso, tan pronto como el Señor me haya entregado a Zeba y a Zalmuna, volveré aquí y los azotaré con espinas y cardos del desierto!” respondió Gedeón.
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 Entonces se fue y fue a Peniel y les hizo el mismo pedido, pero el pueblo de Peniel respondió lo mismo que el pueblo de Sucot.
From there, Gideon [and his 300 men] went to Peniel and asked for food there, but the people gave him the same answer.
9 Entonces les dijo: “¡Cuando regrese victorioso, demoleré esta torre!”.
So he said to the men of Peniel, “After I defeat those kings, I will return and tear down this tower!”
10 Zeba y Zalmuna estaban en Carcor con sus ejércitos de unos quince mil hombres. Estos eran todos los que quedaban de los ejércitos del pueblo de Oriente; ya habían muerto ciento veinte mil hombres.
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 Gedeón tomó la ruta de las caravanas hacia el este de Noba y Yogbea, y atacó a su ejército, tomándolos desprevenidos.
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 Zeba y Zalmuna huyeron, pero él persiguió a los dos reyes madianitas y los capturó, derrotando a todo su ejército.
Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon’s men pursued them and captured them and all their warriors.
13 Entonces Gedeón, hijo de Joás, regresó de la batalla por el paso de Heres.
After that, Gideon and his men [took Zebah and Zalmunna with them and] started to return, going through Heres Pass.
14 Allí capturó a un joven de Sucot y lo interrogó. El hombre le escribió los nombres de los setenta y siete líderes y ancianos de Sucot.
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 Gedeón fue y les dijo a los líderes del pueblo de Sucot: “Aquí están Zeba y Zalmuna, de los que se burlaron cuando me dijeron: ‘¿Por qué debemos darle pan a tu ejército cansado cuando aún no has capturado a Zeba y Zalmuna?’”
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 Así que tomó a los ancianos de la ciudad de Sucot y los castigó usando espinas y cardos del desierto.
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 También derribó la torre de Peniel y mató a los hombres del pueblo.
Then [they went to] Peniel and tore down the tower, and killed all the men in the town.
18 Entonces Gedeón les preguntó a Zeba y a Zalmuna: “¿Cómo eran los hombres que mataron en el Tabor?” “Se parecían a ustedes”, respondieron. “Cada uno de ellos tenía la estatura de un príncipe”.
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 “Esos eran mis hermanos, los hijos de mi madre”, estalló Gedeón. “¡Vive el Señor, si los hubieran dejado vivir, no los mataría a ustedes!”.
Gideon replied, “They were my brothers! Just as surely as Yahweh lives, I would not kill you if you had not killed them.”
20 Entonces le dijo a Jéter, su hijo mayor: “¡Anda, mátalos!”. Pero el joven se negó a sacar la espada, porque era joven y tenía miedo.
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 Zeba y Zalmuna le dijeron a Gedeón: “¡Vamos, hazlo tú! Muéstrate como un hombre y mátanos”. Entonces Gedeón se acercó y mató a Zeba y a Zalmuna, y tomó los adornos en forma de media luna del cuello de sus camellos.
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 Entonces los israelitas le dijeron a Gedeón: “Tú deberías ser nuestro gobernante. Tú, tu hijo y el hijo de tu hijo, porque tú nos has salvado de los madianitas”.
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 “Yo no seré su gobernante, ni mi hijo tampoco”, respondió Gedeón. “El Señor será el gobernante de Israel”.
But Gideon replied, “No, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.”
24 Entonces Gedeón dijo: “Tengo una petición que hacerles: que cada uno de ustedes me dé un pendiente de su botín”. (Sus enemigos eran ismaelitas y llevaban pendientes de oro).
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 “Te los daremos con gusto”, respondieron. Entonces extendieron un manto, y cada uno de ellos echó sobre él pendientes de su botín.
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 El peso de los pendientes que recibió Gedeón era de 1.700 siclos, sin incluir los adornos, sino los colgantes y las prendas de color púrpura que llevaban los reyes madianitas ni las cadenas que llevaban al cuello de sus camellos.
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 Con el oro, Gedeón hizo un efod, que colocó en su ciudad natal de Ofra. Todo Israel se prostituyó allí adorándolo como un ídolo, y se convirtió en una trampa para Gedeón y su familia.
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 Así fue como los madianitas fueron subyugados ante los israelitas y no volvieron a ganar poder. Así, la tierra estuvo en paz durante cuarenta años, estando Gedeón en vida.
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 Jerob-baal, hijo de Joás, volvió a su hogar y vivía en su propia casa.
Gideon went back home to live there.
30 Gedeón tuvo setenta hijos, todos suyos, porque tuvo muchas esposas.
He had many wives, and they bore him seventy sons.
31 Su concubina, que vivía en Siquem, también tuvo un hijo. Lo llamó Abimelec.
He also had a slave wife in Shechem [town], who bore him a son whom he named Abimelech.
32 Gedeón, hijo de Joás, murió a una edad avanzada y fue sepultado en la tumba de su padre Joás, en Ofra de los abiezritas.
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 Pero en cuanto murió Gedeón, los israelitas volvieron a prostituirse, adorando ante los baales. Hicieron de Baal-berit su dios.
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 Se olvidaron del Señor, su Dios, que los había salvado de todos los enemigos que los rodeaban.
They forgot about Yahweh, the one who had rescued them from all their enemies that surrounded them.
35 No mostraron ningún respeto a la familia de Jerob-baal (Gedeón) por todo el bien que había hecho por Israel.
And even though Gideon had done many good things for the Israelis, they were not kind to Gideon’s family.
