²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down ^[a]against Midian and ^(A)take control of the waters ahead of them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took control of the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ And they captured the two leaders of Midian, ^(B)Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon ^(C)from across the Jordan.

Zebah and Zalmunna Routed

8 Then the men of Ephraim said to ^[b]Gideon, “^(D)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 ^[c]anger toward him subsided when he said ^[d]that.

⁴ Then Gideon and the three hundred men who were with him came ^(E)to the Jordan and crossed over, exhausted yet still pursuing. ⁵ And he said to the men of ^(F)Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are ^[e]following me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶ But the leaders of Succoth said, “^[f](G)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, ^(H)when the Lord has handed over to me Zebah and Zalmunna, I will ^[g]thrash your ^[h]bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸ Then he went up from there to ^[i](I)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 ^[j]Penuel, “When I return safely, ^(J)I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their ^[k]armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of the entire ^[l]army of the ^[m]people of the east; ^(K)for the fallen were 120,000 ^[n]swordsmen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he ^[o]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 ^[p]army.

¹³ Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle ^[q]by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ And he captured a youth from ^[r]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, ‘^[s](L)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 ^[t]disciplined the men of Succoth with them. ^17 (M)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 ^[u]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.” ^(N)So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and ^(O)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; ^(P)the Lord shall rule over you.” ²⁴ Yet Gideon said to them, “I would ^[v]request of you, that each of you give me ^[w]an earring from his plunder.” (For they had gold earrings, because they were ^(Q)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 ^(R)an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah; but all Israel ^[x]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.

A Better Ministry

8 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a ^(A)high priest, who has taken His seat at ^(B)the right hand of the throne of the ^(C)Majesty in the heavens, ² a ^(D)minister ^[a]in the sanctuary and ^[b]in the ^(E)true ^[c]tabernacle, which the Lord ^(F)set up, not man. ³ For every ^(G)high priest is appointed ^(H)to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. ⁴ Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are ^[d]those who ^(I)offer the gifts according to the Law; ⁵ who serve ^(J)a copy and ^(K)shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses ^[e]was ^(L)warned by God when he was about to erect the ^[f]tabernacle; for, “^(M)See,” He says, “that you make all things by the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.” ⁶ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the ^(N)mediator of ^(O)a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

A New Covenant

⁷ For ^(P)if that first covenant had been free of fault, no ^[g]circumstances would have been sought for a second. ⁸ For in finding fault with ^[h]the people, He says,

^13 [l]When He said, “^(Z)A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. ^(AA)But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ^[m]about to disappear.

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, ^(A)that the sons of Israel again ^[a]committed infidelity with the Baals, and made ^(B)Baal-berith their god. ³⁴ So the sons of Israel ^(C)did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; ^35 (D)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.

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 Now ^(E)Abimelech the son of ^[b]Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s relatives, and spoke to them and to the entire family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, ² “Speak, now, in the hearing of all the ^[c]leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: for ^(F)seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, to rule over you, or for one man to rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am ^(G)your bone and your flesh.” ³ So his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the ^[d]leaders of Shechem; and ^[e]they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is ^(H)our relative.” ⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of ^(I)Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house in Ophrah and ^(J)killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, ^(K)seventy men, ^[f]on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. ⁶ All the ^[g]leaders of Shechem and all ^[h]Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the ^[i]oak of the memorial stone which was in Shechem.

⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on the top of ^(L)Mount Gerizim, and raised his voice and called out. And he said to them, “Listen to me, you ^[j]leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my fatness with ^[k]which God and mankind are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my sweetness and my good ^[l]fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I give up my new wine, which cheers God and mankind, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you ^[m]really are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now then, if you have acted with ^[n]honesty and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(M)Jerubbaal and his house, and ^[o]have dealt with him ^[p]as he deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you, and ^[q]risked his life and saved you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸ but in fact you have risen against my father’s house today and have killed ^(N)his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, ^(O)the son of his female slave, king over the ^[r]leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— ¹⁹ so if you have acted with ^[s]honesty and integrity toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, be joyful about Abimelech, and may he also be joyful about you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out of Abimelech and consume the ^[t]leaders of Shechem and ^[u]Beth-millo; and may fire come out of the ^[v]leaders of Shechem and from ^[w]Beth-millo, and consume Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer; and he stayed there because of his brother Abimelech.

Shechem and Abimelech Fall

²² Now Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. ^23 (P)Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the ^[x]leaders of Shechem; and the ^[y]leaders of Shechem ^(Q)dealt treacherously with Abimelech, ^24 (R)so that the violence ^[z]done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal would come, and the responsibility for ^(S)their blood would be placed on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the ^[aa]leaders of Shechem, who ^[ab]encouraged him to kill his brothers.

The Old and the New

9 Now even the first covenant had ^(A)regulations for divine worship and ^(B)the earthly sanctuary. ² For ^(C)a ^[a]tabernacle was equipped, the ^[b]outer sanctuary, in which were ^(D)the lampstand, ^(E)the table, and ^(F)the ^[c]sacred bread; this is called the Holy Place. ³ Behind ^(G)the second veil there was a ^[d]tabernacle which is called the ^(H)Most Holy Place, ⁴ having a golden ^[e](I)altar of incense and ^(J)the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was ^(K)a golden jar holding the manna, ^(L)Aaron’s staff which budded, and ^(M)the tablets of the covenant; ⁵ and above it were the ^(N)cherubim of glory ^(O)overshadowing the ^[f]atoning cover; but about these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶ Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests ^(P)are continually entering the ^[g]outer ^[h]tabernacle, performing the divine worship, ⁷ but into ^(Q)the second, only ^(R)the high priest enters ^(S)once a year, ^(T)not without taking blood which he ^(U)offers for himself and for the ^[i](V)sins of the people committed in ignorance. ^8 (W)The Holy Spirit is signifying this, ^(X)that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the ^[j]outer tabernacle is still standing, ⁹ which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly ^(Y)both gifts and sacrifices are offered which ^(Z)cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, ¹⁰ since they relate only to ^(AA)food, ^(AB)drink, and various ^(AC)washings, ^(AD)regulations for the ^[k]body imposed until ^(AE)a time of reformation.

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a ^(AF)high priest of the ^(AG)good things ^[l]having come, He entered through ^(AH)the greater and more perfect ^[m]tabernacle, ^(AI)not made by hands, that is, ^(AJ)not of this creation; ¹² and not through ^(AK)the blood of goats and calves, but ^(AL)through His own blood, He ^(AM)entered the holy place ^(AN)once for all time, ^[n]having obtained ^(AO)eternal redemption. ¹³ For if ^(AP)the blood of goats and bulls, and ^(AQ)the ^[o]ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the ^[p]cleansing of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will ^(AR)the blood of Christ, who through ^[q](AS)the eternal Spirit ^(AT)offered Himself without blemish to God, ^(AU)cleanse your conscience from ^(AV)dead works to serve ^(AW)the living God?