Judges 8
New English Translation
8 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us[a] when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him. 2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes[b] are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest![c] 3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?”[d] When he said this, they calmed down.[e]
Gideon Tracks Down the Midianite Kings
4 Now Gideon and his 300 men had crossed over the Jordan River, and even though they were exhausted, they were still chasing the Midianites.[f] 5 He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Give[g] some loaves of bread to the men[h] who are following me,[i] because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 6 The officials of Sukkoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give[j] bread to your army?”[k] 7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help,[l] after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh[m] your skin[n] with[o] desert thorns and briers.” 8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request.[p] The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Sukkoth had.[q] 9 He also threatened[r] the men of Penuel, warning,[s] “When I return victoriously,[t] I will tear down this tower.”
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about 15,000 survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; 120,000 sword-wielding soldiers had been killed.[u] 11 Gideon went up the road of the nomads[v] east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army.[w] 12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon[x] chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised[y] their entire army.
13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the pass[z] of Heres. 14 He captured a young man from Sukkoth[aa] and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Sukkoth’s officials and city leaders—seventy-seven men in all.[ab] 15 He approached the men of Sukkoth and said, “Look what I have![ac] Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, ‘You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’”[ad] 16 He seized the leaders[ae] of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Sukkoth with them.[af] 17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and executed the city’s men.
18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me[ag] the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.”[ah] 19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear,[ai] as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 20 He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on![aj] Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword,[ak] because he was still young. 21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon,[al] “Come on,[am] you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.”[an] So Gideon killed[ao] Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
Gideon Rejects a Crown but Makes an Ephod
22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian’s power.”[ap] 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” 24 Gideon continued,[aq] “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.”[ar] (The Midianites[as] had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.”[at] So they[au] spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to 1,700 gold shekels.[av] This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry,[aw] purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels.[ax] 27 Gideon used all this to make[ay] an ephod,[az] which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites[ba] prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it[bb] there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.
Gideon’s Story Ends
28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken.[bc] The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time.[bd] 29 Then Jerub Baal son of Joash went home and settled down.[be] 30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives.[bf] 31 His concubine,[bg] who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech.[bh] 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very[bi] old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Israel Returns to Baal Worship
33 After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal Berith[bj] their god. 34 The Israelites did not remain true[bk] to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them. 35 They did not treat[bl] the family of Jerub Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.
Footnotes
- Judges 8:1 tn Heb “by not summoning us.”
- Judges 8:2 tn Heb “gleanings.”
- Judges 8:2 sn Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest. Gideon employs an agricultural metaphor. He argues that Ephraim’s mopping up operations, though seemingly like the inferior grapes which are missed initially by the harvesters or left for the poor, are actually more noteworthy than the military efforts of Gideon’s family.
- Judges 8:3 tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”
- Judges 8:3 tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”
- Judges 8:4 tn Heb “And Gideon arrived at the Jordan, crossing over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted and chasing.” The English past perfect (“had crossed”) is used because this verse flashes back chronologically to an event that preceded the hostile encounter described in vv. 1-3. (Note that 7:25 assumes Gideon had already crossed the Jordan.)
- Judges 8:5 tn Or perhaps, “sell.”
- Judges 8:5 tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.
- Judges 8:5 tn Heb “who are at my feet.”
- Judges 8:6 tn Or perhaps, “sell.”
- Judges 8:6 tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your army bread?” Perhaps the reference to the kings’ “palms” should be taken literally. The officials of Sukkoth may be alluding to the practice of mutilating prisoners or enemy corpses (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 155).sn The officials of Sukkoth are hesitant to give (or sell) food to Gideon’s forces because they are not sure of the outcome of the battle. Perhaps they had made an alliance with the Midianites which demanded their loyalty.
- Judges 8:7 tn Heb “Therefore.”
- Judges 8:7 sn I will thresh. The metaphor is agricultural. Threshing was usually done on a hard threshing floor. As farm animals walked over the stalks, pulling behind them a board embedded with sharp stones, the stalks and grain would be separated. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63-65. Gideon threatens to use thorns and briers on his sledge.
- Judges 8:7 tn Or “flesh.”
- Judges 8:7 tn This is apparently a rare instrumental use of the Hebrew preposition אֵת (ʾet, note the use of ב [bet] in v. 16). Some, however, argue that אֵת more naturally indicates accompaniment (“together with”). In this case Gideon envisions threshing their skin along with thorns and briers, just as the stalks and grain are intermingled on the threshing floor. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 229-30.
- Judges 8:8 tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”
- Judges 8:8 tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Sukkoth answered.”
- Judges 8:9 tn Heb “said to.” The translation “threatened” is interpretive, but is clearly indicated by the context.
- Judges 8:9 tn Heb “saying.”
- Judges 8:9 tn Or “safely.” Heb “in peace.”
- Judges 8:10 tn Heb “About 15,000 [in number] were all the ones remaining from the army of the sons of the east. The fallen ones were 120,000 [in number], men drawing the sword.”
- Judges 8:11 tn Heb “the ones living in tents.”
- Judges 8:11 tc Heb “and attacked the army, while the army was secure.” The Hebrew term בֶטַח (vetakh, “secure”) may means the army was undefended (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 156), not suspecting an attack at that time and place. A few mss supported by the LXX read the participle form from the same root, בֹטֵחַ (voteakh) “trustingly,” the implication being that they were not attentive to defense.
- Judges 8:12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 8:12 tn Or “routed”; Heb “caused to panic.”
- Judges 8:13 tn Or “ascent.”
- Judges 8:14 tn Heb “from the men of Sukkoth.”
- Judges 8:14 tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Sukkoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”
- Judges 8:15 tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Judges 8:15 tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?” sn Gideon changes their actual statement (see v. 6) by saying exhausted men rather than “army.” In this way he emphasizes the crisis his men were facing and highlights the insensitivity of the men of Sukkoth.
- Judges 8:16 tn Heb “elders.”
- Judges 8:16 tc The translation follows the reading of several ancient versions (LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) in assuming the form וַיָּדָשׁ (vayyadash) from the verb דּוּשׁ (dush, “thresh”) as in v. 7. The MT reads instead the form וַיֹּדַע (vayyodaʿ, “make known”), a Hiphil form of יָדַע (yadaʿ). In this case one could translate, “he used them [i.e., the thorns and briers] to teach the men of Sukkoth a lesson.”
- Judges 8:18 tn Heb “Where are?”
- Judges 8:18 tn Heb “each one like the appearance of sons of the king.”
- Judges 8:19 tn The words “I swear” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Judges 8:20 tn Or “Arise!”
- Judges 8:20 tn Heb “did not draw his sword for he was afraid.”
- Judges 8:21 tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Judges 8:21 tn Or “Arise.”
- Judges 8:21 tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”
- Judges 8:21 tn Heb “arose and killed.”
- Judges 8:22 tn Heb “hand.”
- Judges 8:24 tn Heb “said to them.”
- Judges 8:24 tn Heb “Give to me, each one, an earring from his plunder.”
- Judges 8:24 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Midianites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 8:25 tn Heb “We will indeed give.”
- Judges 8:25 tc In the LXX the subject of this verb is singular, referring to Gideon rather than to the Israelites.
- Judges 8:26 sn 1,700 gold shekels would be about 42.7 pounds (19.4 kilograms) of gold.
- Judges 8:26 tn Or “pendants.”
- Judges 8:26 tn Heb “the ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.”
- Judges 8:27 tn Heb “made it into.”
- Judges 8:27 sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.
- Judges 8:27 tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).
- Judges 8:27 tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 8:28 tn Heb “Midian was humbled before the Israelites, and they no longer lifted their heads.”
- Judges 8:28 tn Heb “in the days of Gideon.”
- Judges 8:29 tn Heb “went and lived in his house.”
- Judges 8:30 tn Heb “Gideon had seventy sons who went out from his thigh, for he had many wives.” The Hebrew word יָרֵךְ (yarekh, “thigh”) is a euphemism here for the penis.
- Judges 8:31 sn A concubine was a slave woman in ancient Near Eastern societies who was the legal property of her master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with her master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).
- Judges 8:31 sn The name Abimelech means “my father is king.”
- Judges 8:32 tn Heb “good.”
- Judges 8:33 sn Baal Berith was a local manifestation of the Canaanite storm god. The name means, ironically, “Baal of the covenant.” Israel’s covenant allegiance had indeed shifted.
- Judges 8:34 tn Heb “remember.”
- Judges 8:35 tn Heb “did not do loyalty with,” or “did not act faithfully toward.”
Jueces 8
Reina Valera Contemporánea
Gedeón captura a los reyes de Madián
8 Las familias de la tribu de Efraín hablaron con Gedeón y duramente le reprocharon:
«¿Por qué no nos llamaste cuando fuiste a pelear contra Madián?»
2 Gedeón les respondió:
«Lo que yo hice no tiene comparación, si se compara con lo que hicieron ustedes. Lo que aún queda en sus campos es mejor que la cosecha de Abiezer. 3 Dios les entregó a Oreb y a Zeeb, príncipes de Madián; por eso, lo que yo hice no es comparable con lo que ustedes hicieron.»
En cuanto Gedeón dijo esto, el enojo de los efraimitas se aplacó. 4 Entonces Gedeón y sus trescientos hombres regresaron y cruzaron el Jordán; y como estaban muy cansados por perseguir a sus enemigos, 5 les dijo a los habitantes de Sucot:
«Yo les ruego que den a mi gente algo de comer, porque están muy cansados. Estamos persiguiendo a Zebaj y Salmuná, los reyes de Madián.»
6 Pero los jefes de Sucot le respondieron:
«¿Y acaso ya venciste a Zebaj y a Salmuná, para que alimentemos a tu ejército?»
7 Gedeón respondió:
«Aún no, pero cuando el Señor nos los entregue, vendré y trituraré los cuerpos de ustedes con espinos y abrojos del desierto.»
8 De Sucot, Gedeón fue a Peniel, y allí también pidió comida para su ejército. Pero la gente de Peniel le respondió lo mismo que la de Sucot. 9 Gedeón entonces les dijo:
»Cuando regrese victorioso, derribaré esta torre.»
10 Zebaj y Salmuná estaban en Carcor, con un ejército como de quince mil hombres, que eran todos los que habían quedado del numeroso ejército de los pueblos del oriente, pues en la batalla habían caído ciento veinte mil guerreros. 11 Gedeón avanzó por el camino de los que vivían al oriente de Nobaj y de Yogbeá, y atacó el campamento cuando el ejército estaba desprevenido. 12 Entonces Zebaj y Salmuná huyeron, y Gedeón los persiguió hasta echarles mano. Ante esto, su ejército se llenó de espanto.
13 Al amanecer, Gedeón regresó de la batalla 14 y capturó a un joven de Sucot, al que le hizo algunas preguntas. El joven le dio por escrito los nombres de los jefes y de los setenta y siete ancianos de Sucot, 15 y con eso Gedeón se presentó ante los jefes de Sucot y les dijo:
«Aquí tienen a Zebaj y a Salmuná. Ustedes me preguntaron: “¿Ya venciste a Zebaj y a Salmuná para que alimentemos a tu ejército?” ¡Eso es una ofensa!»
16 Entonces Gedeón tomó espinos y abrojos del desierto, y con ellos castigó a los ancianos de Sucot. 17 Además, derribó la torre de Peniel y mató a sus habitantes. 18 A Zebaj y a Salmuná les preguntó:
«¿Cómo eran los hombres que ustedes mataron en Tabor?»
Ellos le respondieron:
«Se parecían a ti. Cada uno de ellos parecía ser hijo de un rey.»
19 Y Gedeón les dijo:
«¡Eran mis hermanos, hijos de mi propia madre! ¡El Señor me es testigo de que, si los hubieran dejado vivir, yo les hubiera perdonado la vida a ustedes!»
20 A Jéter, su primogénito, le dijo:
«¡Levántate, y mátalos!»
Pero el joven, aún de corta edad, tuvo miedo y no desenvainó su espada. 21 Entonces Zebaj y Salmuná le dijeron a Gedeón:
«¡Pues mátanos tú, ya que eres tan valiente!»
Y Gedeón se levantó y mató a Zebaj y a Salmuná, y se adueñó de los adornos de lunetas que pendían del cuello de sus camellos.
22 Luego, los israelitas le dijeron a Gedeón:
«Queremos que tú y tu familia sean nuestros jefes, puesto que nos libraste de los madianitas.»
23 Pero Gedeón les respondió:
«Ni yo ni mi familia seremos los jefes de ustedes. Será el Señor quien los gobierne.»
24 Y como ellos traían aretes de oro, pues eran ismaelitas, Gedeón les dijo:
«Quiero pedirles algo. Déme cada uno de ustedes los aretes de su botín.»
25 Y ellos, tendiendo un manto, echaron sobre él los aretes del botín y dijeron:
«Con mucho gusto te los daremos.»
26 Y el oro de los aretes llegó casi a diecinueve kilos, sin contar las placas, las joyas pequeñas y los vestidos de púrpura que traían los reyes de Madián, ni los collares que traían colgados los camellos. 27 Con todo ese oro Gedeón hizo un efod y lo guardó en Ofrá, que era su ciudad. Pero cuando los israelitas vieron el efod, se corrompieron y le rindieron culto en ese lugar. Esto fue como una trampa para Gedeón y su familia. 28 Así fue como Madián fue sometido por los israelitas, y nunca más levantó cabeza. Y mientras vivió Gedeón, hubo paz en la tierra durante cuarenta años.
29 Después de eso Gedeón hijo de Joás, también llamado Yerubaal, se regresó a su casa. 30 Los descendientes de Gedeón fueron setenta hijos, porque tuvo muchas mujeres. 31 Con la concubina que tenía en Siquén, tuvo un hijo al que llamó Abimelec. 32 Y murió Gedeón hijo de Joás siendo ya muy anciano, y lo sepultaron en Ofrá de los abiezeritas, en el sepulcro de Joás, su padre.
33 Pero a la muerte de Gedeón los israelitas volvieron a corromperse, y adoraron a Baal Berit. 34 Se olvidaron del Señor, su Dios, que los había librado de todos los enemigos que los rodeaban, 35 y tampoco se mostraron agradecidos con la tribu de Gedeón, es decir, Yerubaal, a pesar de todo el bien que éste había hecho a Israel.
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