²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.^{(A) 25} They captured the two captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb, as they pursued the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.^(B)

Gideon’s Triumph and Vengeance

8 Then the Ephraimites said to him, “What have you done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against the Midianites?” And they upbraided him violently.^{(C) 2} So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? ³ God has given into your hands the captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.^(D)

⁴ Then Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred who were with him, exhausted but still pursuing. ⁵ So he said to the people of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to my followers, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”^{(E) 6} But the officials of Succoth said, “Do you already have in your possession the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna, that we should give bread to your army?”^{(F) 7} Gideon replied, “Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will trample your flesh on the thorns of the wilderness and on briers.”^{(G) 8} From there he went up to Penuel and made the same request of them, and the people of Penuel answered him as the people of Succoth had answered.^{(H) 9} So he said to the people of Penuel, “When I come back victorious, I will break down this tower.”^(I)

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the east, for one hundred twenty thousand men bearing arms had fallen. ¹¹ So Gideon went up by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army was off its guard. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw all the army into a panic.^(J)

¹³ When Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres, ¹⁴ he caught a young man, one of the people of Succoth, and questioned him, and he listed for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven people. ¹⁵ Then he came to the people of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Do you already have in your possession the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna, that we should give bread to your troops who are exhausted?’ ”^{(K) 16} So he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he trampled^[a] the people of Succoth.^{(L) 17} He also broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.^(M)

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they, every one of them; they resembled the sons of a king.”^{(N) 19} And he replied, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother; as the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Go kill them!” But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a boy. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You come and kill us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon went and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.^(O)

Gideon’s Idolatry

²² Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have delivered us out of the hand 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.”^{(P) 24} Then Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you; each of you give me an earring he has taken as spoil.” (For the enemy^[b] had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) ²⁵ “We will willingly give them,” they answered. So they spread a garment, and each threw into it an earring he had taken as spoil. ²⁶ The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold (apart from the crescents and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian and the collars that were on the necks of their camels). ²⁷ Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his town, in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.^{(Q) 28} So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they lifted up their heads no more. So the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.^(R)

Mediator of a Better Covenant

8 Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,^{(A) 2} a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent^[a] that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.^{(B) 3} For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.^{(C) 4} Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are already those^[b] who offer gifts according to the law. ⁵ They offer worship in a sanctuary that is^[c] a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one, just as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tent.^[d] For, God^[e] said, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”^{(D) 6} But Jesus^[f] has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on the basis of better promises.^{(E) 7} For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.^(F)

⁸ God^[g] finds fault with them when he says:

¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear.^(K)

³² Then Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed and prostituted themselves with the Baals, making Baal-berith their god.^{(A) 34} The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side,^{(B) 35} and they did not exhibit loyalty to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

Abimelech Attempts to Establish a Monarchy

9 Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s kinsfolk and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family,^{(C) 2} “Say in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”^{(D) 3} So his mother’s kinsfolk spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴ They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the temple of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows who followed him.^{(E) 5} He went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone, but Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, for he hid himself.^{(F) 6} Then all the lords of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar^[a] at Shechem.

The Parable of the Trees

⁷ When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.^(G)

¹⁶ “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and honor when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house and have done to him as his actions deserved^(I)— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you and risked his life and rescued you from the hand of Midian, ¹⁸ but you have risen up against my father’s house this day and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your kinsman^(J)— ¹⁹ if, I say, you have acted in good faith and honor with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you,^{(K) 20} but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the lords of Shechem and Beth-millo, and let fire come out from the lords of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham ran away and fled, going to Beer, where he remained for fear of his brother Abimelech.

The Downfall of Abimelech

²² Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. ²³ But God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem, and the lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.^{(L) 24} This happened so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be avenged^[b] and their blood be laid on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.^(M)

The Earthly and the Heavenly Sanctuaries

9 Now^[a] the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. ² For a tent^[b] was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence;^[c] this is called the holy place.^{(A) 3} Behind the second curtain was a tent^[d] called the holy of holies.^{(B) 4} In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;^{(C) 5} above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.^[e] Of these things we cannot speak now in detail.^(D)

⁶ These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the first tent^[f] to carry out their ritual duties, ⁷ but only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.^{(E) 8} By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been disclosed as long as the first tent^[g] is still standing.^{(F) 9} This is a symbol^[h] of the present time, indicating that gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper^{(G) 10} but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right.^(H)

¹¹ But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[i] then through the greater and more perfect tent^[j] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),^{(I) 12} he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.^{(J) 13} For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified,^{(K) 14} how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^[k] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[l] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!^(L)