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.

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.