Judges 8:22-27

Modern English Version

Gideon’s Ephod

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you, and your son, and your grandson, for you have saved us from the hands of Midian.”

²³ Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ Gideon continued, “I have a request to make of you, that each man would give me an earring from his spoils.” (Their enemy had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵ They said, “We will certainly give them.” So they spread out a cloak, and each man threw a ring of his spoils there. ²⁶ The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was seventeen hundred gold shekels.^[a] This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, and purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, as well as the chains hanging on the necks of their camels. ²⁷ Gideon used these things to make an ephod. He put it in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.