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Judges 8
New American Standard Bible

Zebah and Zalmunna Routed

8 Then the men of Ephraim said to [a]Gideon, “(A)What is this thing that you have done to us, not calling upon us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they quarreled with him vehemently. 2 But he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim not better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3 God has handed over to you the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their [b]anger toward him subsided when he said [c]that.

4 Then Gideon and the three hundred men who were with him came (B)to the Jordan and crossed over, exhausted yet still pursuing. 5 And he said to the men of (C)Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are [d]following me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 6 But the leaders of Succoth said, “[e](D)Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” 7 So Gideon said, “For this answer, (E)when the Lord has handed over to me Zebah and Zalmunna, I will [f]thrash your [g]bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” 8 Then he went up from there to [h](F)Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. 9 So he said also to the men of [i]Penuel, “When I return safely, (G)I will tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their [j]armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of the entire [k]army of the [l]people of the east; (H)for the fallen were 120,000 [m]swordsmen. 11 Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he [n]attacked the camp when the camp was unsuspecting. 12 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the entire [o]army.

13 Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle [p]by the ascent of Heres. 14 And he captured a youth from [q]Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. 15 And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘[r](I)Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’” 16 Then he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he [s]disciplined the men of Succoth with them. 17 (J)And he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where were the men whom you killed at Tabor?” But they said, “You and they were alike, each one [t]resembling the son of a king.” 19 And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 20 So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them.” But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. 21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise up yourself, and attack us; for as the man, so is his strength.” (K)So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and (L)took the crescent amulets which were on their camels’ necks.

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, your son’s son as well, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian!” 23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; (M)the Lord shall rule over you.” 24 Yet Gideon said to them, “I would [u]request of you, that each of you give me [v]an earring from his plunder.” (For they had gold earrings, because they were (N)Ishmaelites.) 25 And they said, “We will certainly give them to you.” So they spread out a garment, and every one of them tossed an earring there from his plunder. 26 The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, apart from the crescent amulets, the ear pendants, and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and apart from the neck chains that were on their camels’ necks. 27 Gideon made it into (O)an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah; but all Israel [w]committed infidelity with it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Forty Years of Peace

28 So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon.

29 Then (P)Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. 30 Now Gideon had (Q)seventy sons who [x]were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he [y]named him Abimelech. 32 And Gideon the 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 Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, (R)that the sons of Israel again [z]committed infidelity with the Baals, and made (S)Baal-berith their god. 34 So the sons of Israel (T)did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; 35 (U)nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accordance with all the good that he had done for Israel.

Footnotes

  1. Judges 8:1 Lit him
  2. Judges 8:3 Lit spirit
  3. Judges 8:3 Lit this thing
  4. Judges 8:5 Lit at my feet
  5. Judges 8:6 Lit Is the palm of...; i.e., are you so sure of victory that
  6. Judges 8:7 Or trample
  7. Judges 8:7 Lit flesh
  8. Judges 8:8 In Gen 32:30, Peniel
  9. Judges 8:9 Lit Penuel, saying,
  10. Judges 8:10 Or camps
  11. Judges 8:10 Or camp
  12. Judges 8:10 Lit sons
  13. Judges 8:10 Lit men who drew the sword
  14. Judges 8:11 Lit struck
  15. Judges 8:12 Or camp
  16. Judges 8:13 Or from
  17. Judges 8:14 Lit the men of
  18. Judges 8:15 Lit Is the palm of...; i.e., are you so sure of victory
  19. Judges 8:16 Lit taught
  20. Judges 8:18 Lit like the form of the sons
  21. Judges 8:24 Lit request a request
  22. Judges 8:24 Or a nose ring
  23. Judges 8:27 I.e., against God
  24. Judges 8:30 Lit came from his loins
  25. Judges 8:31 Lit appointed his name
  26. Judges 8:33 I.e., against God
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Judges 8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 8

1 (A)But the Ephraimites said to him, “What have you done to us, not summoning us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they quarreled bitterly with him. 2 But he answered them, “What have I done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?(B) 3 It was into your power God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb.(C) What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

4 When Gideon reached the Jordan and crossed it, he and his three hundred men were exhausted and famished. 5 So he said to the people of Succoth, “Will you give my followers some loaves of bread? They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” 6 But the princes of Succoth replied, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your army?”[a] 7 Gideon said, “Very well; when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I will thrash your bodies with desert thorns and briers.” 8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request of them, but the people of Penuel answered him as had the people of Succoth. 9 So to the people of Penuel, too, he said, “When I return in peace, I will demolish this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their force of about fifteen thousand men; these were all who were left of the whole Kedemite army, a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen having fallen. 11 Gideon went up by the route of the tent-dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the force when it felt secure. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled and Gideon pursued them. He captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, terrifying the entire force.

13 Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned from battle by the pass of Heres. 14 He captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the seventy-seven princes and elders of Succoth. 15 So he went to the princes of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom you taunted me, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your weary men?’” 16 He seized the elders of the city, and with desert thorns and briers he thrashed the people of Succoth. 17 He also demolished the tower of Penuel and killed the people of the city.

18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men you killed at Tabor?” “They were all like you,” they replied. “They appeared to be princes.” 19 “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons,” he said. “As the Lord lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.” 20 Then he said to his firstborn, Jether, “Go, kill them.” But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, for he was still a boy. 21 (D)Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come, kill us yourself, for as a man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon stepped forward and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. He also took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

22 (E)The Israelites then said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your son’s son—for you saved us from the power of Midian.” 23 But Gideon answered them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The Lord must rule over you.”(F)

24 Gideon went on to say, “Let me make a request of you. Give me, each of you, a ring from his spoils.” (Since they were Ishmaelites,[b] the enemy had gold rings.) 25 “We will certainly give them,” they replied, and they spread out a cloak into which everyone threw a ring from his spoils. 26 The gold rings he had requested weighed seventeen hundred gold shekels, apart from the crescents and pendants, the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and apart from the trappings that were on the necks of their camels. 27 (G)Gideon made an ephod out of the gold and placed it in his city, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

28 Midian was brought into subjection by the Israelites; they no longer held their heads high, and the land had rest for forty years,(H) during the lifetime of Gideon.

Gideon’s Son Abimelech. 29 Then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went to live in his house. 30 (I)Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. 31 His concubine[c] who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech. 32 At a good old age Gideon, son of Joash, died and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33 (J)But after Gideon was dead, the Israelites again prostituted themselves by following the Baals, making Baal-berith[d] their god. 34 The Israelites did not remember the Lord, their God, who had delivered them from the power of their enemies all around them. 35 Nor were they loyal to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.

Footnotes

  1. 8:6 Are the hands…already in your possession…?: i.e., can you already boast of victory? The hands of slain enemies were sometimes cut off and counted as trophies.
  2. 8:24 Ishmaelites: evidently used here as a general term for nomads, whose wealth was in the form of gold and flocks. The genealogies in Genesis place the Midianites as descendants of Abraham and his wife Keturah (Gn 25:1–2), and the Ishmaelites as the descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave (Gn 25:12–16).
  3. 8:31 Concubine: a wife of secondary rank.
  4. 8:33 Baal-berith: a divine epithet meaning “lord of the covenant.” The same deity is called El-berith, “god of the covenant,” in 9:46.
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Judges 9
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Acts 12
New American Standard Bible

Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance

12 Now about that time [a]Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, to do them harm. 2 And he (A)had James the brother of John (B)executed with a sword. 3 When he saw that it (C)pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter as well. (Now these were [b](D)the days of Unleavened Bread.) 4 When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, turning him over to four [c](E)squads of soldiers to guard him, intending only after (F)the Passover to bring him before the people. 5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made to God [d]intensely by the church.

6 On [e]the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, (G)bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7 And behold, (H)an angel of the Lord suddenly (I)stood near Peter, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And (J)his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Put on your belt and [f]strap on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and continued to follow, and yet he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing (K)a vision. 10 Now when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which (L)opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11 When Peter (M)came [g]to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that (N)the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all [h]that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of (O)John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and (P)were praying. 13 When he knocked at the door of the gate, (Q)a slave woman named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, (R)because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They said, “It is (S)his angel.” 16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But (T)motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to [i](U)James and (V)the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.

18 Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to [j]what could have become of Peter. 19 When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they (W)be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to (X)Caesarea and was spending time there.

Death of Herod

20 Now he was very angry with the people of (Y)Tyre and Sidon; and with one mind they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because (Z)their country was supported with grain from the king’s country. 21 On an appointed day, after putting on his royal apparel, Herod took his seat on the [k]rostrum and began delivering an address to them. 22 The people repeatedly cried out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 And immediately (AA)an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and [l]died.

24 But (AB)the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

25 And (AC)Barnabas and (AD)Saul returned (AE)when they had fulfilled their [m]mission to Jerusalem, taking along with them (AF)John, who was also called Mark.

Footnotes

  1. Acts 12:1 I.e., Herod Agrippa I
  2. Acts 12:3 I.e., Passover week
  3. Acts 12:4 Lit quaternions; a quaternion was composed of four soldiers
  4. Acts 12:5 Or constantly
  5. Acts 12:6 Lit that night
  6. Acts 12:8 Lit bind
  7. Acts 12:11 Lit in himself
  8. Acts 12:11 Lit the expectation of the people of the Jews
  9. Acts 12:17 Or Jacob
  10. Acts 12:18 Lit what therefore had become
  11. Acts 12:21 Or judgment seat
  12. Acts 12:23 Lit expired
  13. Acts 12:25 Lit ministry
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Acts 12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 12

Herod’s Persecution of the Christians.[a] 1 About that time King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. 2 He had James, the brother of John,[b] killed by the sword, 3 [c]and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (It was [the] feast of Unleavened Bread.) 4 He had him taken into custody and put in prison under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. He intended to bring him before the people after Passover. 5 Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayer by the church was fervently being made to God on his behalf.(A)

6 On the very night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter, secured by double chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while outside the door guards kept watch on the prison. 7 Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, “Get up quickly.” The chains fell from his wrists. 8 The angel said to him, “Put on your belt and your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” 9 So he followed him out, not realizing that what was happening through the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate leading out to the city, which opened for them by itself. They emerged and made their way down an alley, and suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter recovered his senses and said, “Now I know for certain that [the] Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people had been expecting.” 12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who is called Mark, where there were many people gathered in prayer.(B) 13 When he knocked on the gateway door, a maid named Rhoda came to answer it. 14 She was so overjoyed when she recognized Peter’s voice that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They told her, “You are out of your mind,” but she insisted that it was so. But they kept saying, “It is his angel.” 16 But Peter continued to knock, and when they opened it, they saw him and were astounded. 17 He motioned to them with his hand to be quiet and explained [to them] how the Lord had led him out of the prison, and said, “Report this to James[d] and the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place. 18 At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.(C) 19 Herod, after instituting a search but not finding him, ordered the guards tried and executed. Then he left Judea to spend some time in Caesarea.

Herod’s Death. 20 [e]He had long been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, who now came to him in a body. After winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they sued for peace because their country was supplied with food from the king’s territory. 21 On an appointed day, Herod, attired in royal robes, [and] seated on the rostrum, addressed them publicly. 22 The assembled crowd cried out, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 At once the angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not ascribe the honor to God, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. 24 But the word of God continued to spread and grow.(D)

Mission of Barnabas and Saul. 25 After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission, they returned to Jerusalem,[f] taking with them John, who is called Mark.(E)

Footnotes

  1. 12:1–19 Herod Agrippa ruled Judea A.D. 41–44. While Luke does not assign a motive for his execution of James and his intended execution of Peter, the broad background lies in Herod’s support of Pharisaic Judaism. The Jewish Christians had lost the popularity they had had in Jerusalem (Acts 2:47), perhaps because of suspicions against them traceable to the teaching of Stephen.
  2. 12:2 James, the brother of John: this James, the son of Zebedee, was beheaded by Herod Agrippa ca. A.D. 44.
  3. 12:3, 4 Feast of Unleavened Bread…Passover: see note on Lk 22:1.
  4. 12:17 To James: this James is not the son of Zebedee mentioned in Acts 12:2, but is James, the “brother of the Lord” (Gal 1:19), who in Acts 15; 21 is presented as leader of the Jerusalem Christian community. He left and went to another place: the conjecture that Peter left for Rome at this time has nothing to recommend it. His chief responsibility was still the leadership of the Jewish Christian community in Palestine (see Gal 2:7). The concept of the great missionary effort of the church was yet to come (see Acts 13:1–3).
  5. 12:20–23 Josephus gives a similar account of Herod’s death that occurred in A.D. 44. Early Christian tradition considered the manner of it to be a divine punishment upon his evil life. See 2 Kgs 19:35 for the figure of the angel of the Lord in such a context.
  6. 12:25 They returned to Jerusalem: many manuscripts read “from Jerusalem,” since Acts 11:30 implies that Paul and Barnabas are already in Jerusalem. This present verse could refer to a return visit or subsequent relief mission.
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