Judges 8

1 And the men of Ephraim said unto him—What is this thing thou hast done to us, in not calling us, when thou wentest to fight with Midian? And they did chide with him, sharply.

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 said unto them, What have I done, now, in comparison with you? Is not the grape-gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of 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 Into your hand, hath God delivered the princes of Midian—Oreb and Zeeb, what then had I been able to do in comparison with you? Then, was their spirit softened toward him, when he had spoken this word.

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 came towards the Jordan, being about to pass over—he, and the three hundred men who were with him, faint yet 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 So he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread to the people that are following me; for, faint, they are, and, I, am in pursuit of 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 princes of Succoth said, Are the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in thy power, —that we should give to thine army 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 said, Therefore, when Yahweh hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, then will I tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with the nettles.

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 So he went up from thence, to Penuel, and spake unto them in like manner, —and the men of Penuel answered him, as had answered the men of Succoth.

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

9 So he spake to the men of Penuel also, saying, —When I return with success, I will 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 Now, Zebah and Zalmunna, were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand, all that were left out of all the host of the sons of the east, —and, the fallen, were a hundred and twenty thousand men, who had drawn the 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 So Gideon went up by the way of the tent-dwellers, on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host, when, the host, had become secure.

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 when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, then he pursued them, and captured the two kings of Midian—Zebah and Zalmunna, and, all the host, put he in terror.

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

13 And Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle, —from the ascent of Heres;

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

14 and caught a young man, of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him, —so he wrote down for him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, seventy-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 Then came he in unto the men of Succoth, and said, Lo! Zebah and Zalmunna, —concerning whom ye did taunt me, saying—Are the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in thy power, that we should give to thy weary men 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 So he took the elders of the city, and the thorns of the wilderness and the nettles, and taught therewith 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 the tower of Penuel also, brake he down, —and slew the men of the city.

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

18 Then said he unto Zebah and unto Zalmunna, What manner of men were they, whom ye slew at Tabor? And they said, As thou art, so were they, each one, as handsome as the sons of a king.

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 said: My brethren, sons of my mother, they were! As Yahweh liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not have 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 So he said to Jether his firstborn, Up! slay them. But the youth drew not his sword, for he feared, because he was 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 Then said Zebah and Zalmunna—Up! thou, and fall upon us, for, like the man, is his might. So Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were 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 Then said the men of Israel, unto Gideon, Rule over us—even thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, —for thou hast saved us out of the power 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 said unto them, I, will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, —Yahweh, shall 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 said unto them—I would make to you a request, Give me, then, every man the nose-ring of his spoil. For they had, nose-rings of gold, for, Ishmaelites, they were.

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 said, We will, freely give. So they spread out a mantle, and cast therein, every man the nose-ring of his spoil.

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 so it was, that the weight of the nose-rings of gold which he requested, was a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, —besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the raiment of purple that were upon the kings of Midian, and besides the ornaments that were 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 made thereof an Ephod, and set it up in his own city, in Ophrah, and all Israel went unchastely astray after it there, —so it became, to Gideon and to his house, 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 Thus was Midian subdued, before the sons of Israel, neither did they again lift up their head, —and the land had rest 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 So then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went and dwelt in his own house.

Gideon went back home to live there.

30 And, Gideon, had seventy sons, sprung from his own loins, —for, many wives, had he.

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

31 And, his concubine who was in Shechem, she also, bare him a son, —and he gave him the name of 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, died in a good old age, —and was buried in the grave of Joash his father, in Ophrah, of the Abiezrites.

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 came to pass that, as soon as Gideon was dead, the sons of Israel turned back, and went unchastely astray after the Baals, —and appointed them Baal-berith, to be 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 so the sons of Israel remembered not Yahweh, their own God, —who had rescued them out of the hand of all their enemies, on every side;

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

35 neither dealt they in lovingkindness with the house of Jerubbaal [namely] Gideon, —according to all the goodness wherewith he had dealt with Israel.

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