Judges 8

₁The men of the Ephraim tribe asked Gideon: ‘Why have you done this to us? Why didn't you call us when you left to start the war_against the Midian people?’ They were very angry with Gideon. ₂And Gideon said to them: ‘You have done more than I have done. The people of the Ephraim tribe came later but they did more than the Abiezer family. ₃God helped you defeat the 2 generals of Midian: Oreb and Zeeb. You have done more than I could have done.’ When Gideon said this to the people of the Ephraim tribe, they were not angry anymore.

₄Gideon got to the Jordan River with 300 of his men and they went through the river. They were very tired but they wanted to chase the Midianite soldiers. ₅Gideon asked the people of the town of Sukkoth: ‘Please give food to the men who are with me. They are very tired and we are chasing the kings of the Midian people, Zebah and Zalmunna.’

₆But the leaders of the town of Sukkoth said to Gideon: ‘Why must we give food to your men? You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet.’ ₇Gideon said: ‘The Lord will help us catch Zebah and Zalmunna. But, because you did not want to give us any food, we will come back and punish you with thorns from the desert.’

₈Gideon went from Sukkoth to the town of Peniel and he asked their leaders for food, but the leaders of Peniel answered him in the same way as the leaders of Sukkoth. ₉He told the people of Peniel: ‘When I have defeated the 2 kings, I will come back and I will destroy this tower.’

₁₀Zebah and Zalmunna were at the town of Karkor. There were about 15 000 men with them from the east. These were the only men that were still_alive after 120 000 of their men had died in the war. ₁₁Gideon took the Nomad-road that went east of the towns of Nobah and Jogbehah. He attacked the camp of Zebah and Zalmunna when they did not think that he would. ₁₂Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon chased them and caught them. All the other people in their camp were so afraid that they could not do anything.

₁₃Gideon came back from the war and they went over the Heres Pass. ₁₄He caught a young man from the town of Sukkoth and he asked him who the officials and leaders of the town were. The young man gave Gideon the names of 77 officials and leaders of the town and he wrote them down. ₁₅Then Gideon went to the Sukkoth people and he told them: ‘You have mocked me and said: “Why must we give food to your men?” You said: “You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet.” Here are Zebah and Zalmunna now.’

₁₆Gideon took the thorns from the desert and he beat the leaders of Sukkoth with them. ₁₇He then went to Peniel and he destroyed the tower and killed the officials of the town.

₁₈Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna: ‘What did the men whom you killed in the town of Tabor look like?’ Zebah and Zalmunna said: ‘They looked like you. They looked like the sons of a king.’ ₁₉Gideon said: ‘They were my brothers. As sure as God lives, if you had not killed them, then I would not kill you.’ ₂₀Gideon said to his oldest son Jether: ‘Come, kill them.’ But his son did not take out his sword. He was afraid because he was too young. ₂₁Zebah and Zalmunna said: ‘Gideon, you must kill us, because you are a man and you are strong.’ Then Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna and he took the golden chains that were around the necks of their camels.

₂₂The Israelites said to Gideon: ‘You must rule over us now, you and your son and your grandson, because you have saved us from the Midian people.’

₂₃But Gideon said to them: ‘I will not rule over you and my son will not rule over you. The Lord will rule over you. ₂₄But I want to ask you something: Each one of you must give me a golden ear-ring from the plunder that you took from the enemies.’ The enemies were Ishmaelite people and all of them wore ear-rings in their ears. ₂₅The Israelites said: ‘Yes, we will give you what you ask.’

They put a cloak on the ground and everyone put an ear-ring on the cloak from the plunder that they had taken from the enemies. ₂₆The gold ear-rings that they gave Gideon weighed 1 700 shekels. Gideon also got jewellery and beautiful clothes from the kings of Midian and the chains around the necks of their camels. ₂₇Gideon took the gold and he made a statue and he put it in his town, Ophrah. Later all the Israelites started worshipping the statue and they became unfaithful to God. Gideon and his family also worshipped the statue.

₂₈The Israelites defeated the Midianites and the Midianites were not strong anymore. They could not attack the Israelites. There was peace in the land for 40 years until Gideon died.

₂₉Gideon went to live in his house. ₃₀He was the father of 70 sons because he had many wives. ₃₁He had a son from his concubine in the town of Shechem. His name was Abimelek. ₃₂Gideon was old when he died. They buried him in the grave of his father, Joash, in the town of Ophrah where the Abiezer family lived.

₃₃After Gideon died, the Israelites started to worship the Baal_idols again and they were unfaithful to the Lord. They chose Baal-Berit to be their idol. ₃₄The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, the God who had saved them from all their enemies who lived around them. ₃₅They also did not remember the good things that Gideon had done for them and they were not good to his family.