Gideon Assuages the Anger of Ephraim

8 Later on, the descendants of Ephraim spoke to Gideon.^[a] They argued vehemently, “What are you doing to us? You never called us! But you went out to fight Midian!”

² “What have I accomplished compared to you?” he responded. “Isn’t what’s left from Ephraim’s harvest better than the best vintage of Abiezer? ³ God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the leaders of Midian, into your control. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he said this, their anger calmed down.

⁴ Meanwhile, Gideon and the 300 soldiers with him came to the Jordan, exhausted but continuing their pursuit. ⁵ He told the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the soldiers who are following behind me. They’re tired, and I’m pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶ But the officials of Succoth replied, “Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna in custody^[b] already, so that we should give food to your army?”

⁷ So Gideon responded, “Very well then, but when the Lord has turned over Zebah and Zalmunna into my control, I’m going to whip you with thorns and briers from the desert!”

⁸ Then he left there to go to Penuel and asked the same thing from them, but the men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth did. ⁹ So he responded the same way to the men of Penuel, “When I come back safely,^[c] I’m going to tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, along with their armies, about 15,000 men who survived from the entire army of the group from^[d] the east, since 120,000 swordsmen had already fallen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by a caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked their encampment when they were off guard. ¹² When Zebah and Zalmunna escaped, he pursued them, captured those two kings of Midian,^[e] and threw the entire army into a panic.

¹³ Then Joash’s son Gideon returned from the battle along the Heres Ascent. ¹⁴ He caught a young man from Succoth and interrogated him. He wrote out for Gideon^[f] a list of the 77 officials of Succoth, including its elders. ¹⁵ Then Gideon^[g] approached the men of Succoth and announced, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You criticized me about them when you said, ‘Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna in custody^[h] already, so that we should give food to your weary army?’” ¹⁶ So he took the elders of the city and disciplined the men of Succoth with thorns and briers from the desert. ¹⁷ He also demolished the tower in Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Afterwards, he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like whom you killed at Tabor?”

They answered, “Like you, each one like the son of a king…”

¹⁹ Gideon replied, “They were my brothers—sons from my own mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I wouldn’t be killing you.” ²⁰ Then he told his firstborn son Jether, “Get up and kill them!” But he was afraid, since he was still only a youngster.

²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna responded, “Get up and attack us yourself, since a man’s valor is only as good as the man himself.” So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the crescent-shaped necklaces that adorned the necks of their camels.

²² Then the men of Israel asked Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandsons—because you have delivered us from Midian’s domination.”

²³ But Gideon told them, “I won’t rule over you and my son won’t rule over you. The Lord will rule you.”

Gideon Falls into Idolatry

²⁴ But Gideon also added, “I would like to ask that each of you give me a ring from his war booty” because, as Ishmaelites, the Midianites^[i] had been wearing gold rings.

²⁵ They responded, “We’ll be happy to give them.” So they laid out a garment, and each of them contributed a ring from his war booty. ²⁶ The weight of the rings that he had asked for was 1,700 gold coins,^[j] not counting the crescent-shaped necklaces, pendants, and purple garments worn by the Midian kings, and also not counting the bands adorning the necks of their camels.

²⁷ Gideon crafted the booty into an ephod^[k] and enshrined it in his home town of Ophrah. Then all of Israel committed spiritual adultery with it there, and it became a snare for Gideon and his household.

Gideon Dies

²⁸ Midian remained subjugated to the Israelis, and they didn’t so much as raise their heads anymore, so the land was peaceful for 40 years during the lifetime of Gideon. ²⁹ Afterwards, Joash’s son Jerubbaal went home and retired.^{[l] 30} Gideon raised 70 sons as his direct descendants, since he had many wives. ³¹ His mistress^[m] in Shechem bore him a son whom he named Abimelech.^{[n] 32} Later, Joash’s son Gideon died at a ripe^[o] old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah, which belonged to the descendants of Abiezer.

³³ Later on, as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelis again committed spiritual adultery with various Canaanite deities^[p] and appointed Baal-berith^[q] to be their god. ³⁴ The Israelis did not remember the Lord their God, who continually delivered them from the domination of their enemies who surrounded them on every side. ³⁵ And they showed no gracious love to the household of Jerubbaal—also known as Gideon—despite all the good that he had done for Israel.