Judges 2-8

New American Standard Bible 1995

Israel Rebuked

2 Now ^(A)the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to ^(B)Bochim. And he said, “^(C)I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘^(D)I will never break My covenant with you, ² and as for you, ^(E)you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^(F)you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not ^[a]obeyed Me; what is this you have done? ³ Therefore I also said, ‘^(G)I will not drive them out before you; but they will ^[b]become ^(H)as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’” ⁴ When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ So they named that place ^[c]Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord.

Joshua Dies

^6 (I)When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. ⁷ The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who ^[d]survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. ⁸ Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. ⁹ And they buried him in the territory of ^(J)his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who ^(K)did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel Serves Baals

¹¹ Then the sons of Israel did ^(L)evil in the sight of the Lord and ^[e]served the ^(M)Baals, ¹² and ^(N)they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ So they forsook the Lord and ^(O)served Baal and the Ashtaroth. ^14 (P)The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and ^(Q)He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵ Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and ^(R)as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

^16 (S)Then the Lord raised up judges ^[f]who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way ^(T)in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers. ¹⁸ When the Lord raised up judges for them, ^(U)the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was ^(V)moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. ¹⁹ But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. ^20 (W)So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, ^21 (X)I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, ²² in order to ^(Y)test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers ^[g]did, or not.” ²³ So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Idolatry Leads to Servitude

3 ^(Z)Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not ^[h]experienced any of the wars of Canaan; ² only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might ^[i]be taught war, ^[j]those who had not ^[k]experienced it formerly). ³ These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and ^(AA)the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ^[l]Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were for ^[m](AB)testing Israel, to find out if they would ^[n]obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers ^[o]through Moses. ^5 (AC)The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; ⁶ and ^(AD)they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

⁷ The sons of Israel did ^(AE)what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^(AF)forgot the Lord their God and ^(AG)served the Baals and the ^[p]Asheroth. ⁸ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of ^[q]Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

The First Judge Delivers Israel

⁹ When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, ^(AH)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ^10 (AI)The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of ^[r]Mesopotamia into his hand, so that ^[s]he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹ Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹² Now the sons of Israel again ^(AJ)did evil in the sight of the Lord. So ^(AK)the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and ^[t]defeated Israel, and they possessed ^(AL)the city of the palm trees. ¹⁴ The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Ehud Delivers from Moab

¹⁵ But when the sons of Israel ^(AM)cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by ^[u]him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. ¹⁷ He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ It came about when he had finished presenting the tribute, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Keep silence.” And all who attended him left him. ²⁰ Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹ Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. ²² The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, “^(AN)He is only ^[v]relieving himself in the cool room.” ²⁵ They waited until they ^[w]became anxious; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the ^[x]floor dead.

²⁶ Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ It came about when he had arrived, that ^(AO)he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them. ²⁸ He said to them, “Pursue them, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” So they went down after him and seized ^(AP)the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. ²⁹ They struck down at that time about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was undisturbed for eighty years.

Shamgar Delivers from Philistines

³¹ After him came ^(AQ)Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.

Deborah and Barak Deliver from Canaanites

4 Then ^(AR)the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. ² And the Lord sold them into the hand of ^(AS)Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in ^(AT)Harosheth-hagoyim. ³ The sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for he had nine hundred ^(AU)iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴ Now Deborah, a ^[y]prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She used to ^[z]sit under the ^(AV)palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶ Now she sent and summoned ^(AW)Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “^[aa]Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ⁷ I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his ^[ab]many troops to the river Kishon, and ^(AX)I will give him into your hand.’” ⁸ Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹ She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, ^(AY)for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak called ^(AZ)Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up ^[ac](BA)with him; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber ^(BB)the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the ^[ad]oak in ^(BC)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹² Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ Sisera called together all his chariots, ^(BD)nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from ^(BE)Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴ Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; ^[ae]behold, ^(BF)the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ^15 (BG)The Lord ^[af]routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; ^(BH)not even one was left.

¹⁷ Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a ^[ag]rug. ^19 (BI)He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a ^[ah]bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. ²⁰ He said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” ²¹ But Jael, Heber’s wife, ^(BJ)took a tent peg and ^[ai]seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. ²² And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered ^[aj]with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³ So ^(BK)God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. ²⁴ The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had ^[ak]destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

5 ^(BL)Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

And the land was undisturbed for forty years.

Israel Oppressed by Midian

6 Then the sons of Israel ^(CT)did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of ^(CU)Midian seven years. ² The ^[bf]power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves ^(CV)the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. ³ For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and ^[bg]go against them. ⁴ So they would camp against them and ^(CW)destroy the produce of the earth ^[bh]as far as Gaza, and ^(CX)leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. ⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in ^(CY)like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. ⁶ So Israel was brought ^(CZ)very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord.

⁷ Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian, ⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and ^(DA)he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of ^[bi]slavery. ⁹ I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, ¹⁰ and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you ^(DB)shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not ^[bj]obeyed Me.”’”

Gideon Is Visited

¹¹ Then ^(DC)the angel of the Lord came and sat under the ^[bk]oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the ^(DD)Abiezrite as his son ^(DE)Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” ¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But ^(DF)now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ The Lord ^[bl]looked at him and said, “^(DG)Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ^15 (DH)He said to Him, “O Lord, ^[bm]how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in ^(DI)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ^16 (DJ)But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall ^[bn]defeat Midian as one man.” ¹⁷ So ^[bo]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me ^(DK)a sign that it is You who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

¹⁹ Then Gideon went in and ^(DL)prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ^[bp]ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ^[bq]and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the ^[br]oak and presented them. ²⁰ The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ^(DM)fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord ^[bs]vanished from his sight. ^22 (DN)When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, ^[bt]he said, “Alas, O Lord ^[bu]God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it ^[bv]The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still ^(DO)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull ^[bw]and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the ^[bx](DP)Asherah that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” ²⁷ Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

The Altar of Baal Destroyed

²⁸ When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will ^[by]plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” ³² Therefore on that day he named him ^(DQ)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.

³³ Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in ^(DR)the valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ So ^(DS)the Spirit of the Lord ^[bz]came upon Gideon; and he ^(DT)blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. ³⁵ He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, ^(DU)Zebulun, and Naphtali, and ^(DV)they came up to meet them.

Sign of the Fleece

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “^(DW)If You will deliver Israel ^[ca]through me, as You have spoken, ³⁷ behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel ^[cb]through me, as You have spoken.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “^(DX)Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” ⁴⁰ God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.

Gideon’s 300 Chosen Men

7 Then ^(DY)Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside ^[cc]the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of ^[cd]them by the hill of ^(DZ)Moreh in the valley.

² The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, ^(EA)for Israel ^[ce]would become boastful, saying, ‘My own ^[cf]power has delivered me.’ ³ Now therefore ^[cg]come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^(EB)Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.

^4 (EC)Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. ⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you ^(ED)with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his ^[ch]home.” ⁸ So ^[ci]the 300 men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And ^[cj]Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, ^(EE)for I have given it into your hands. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, ¹¹ and you will hear what they say; and ^(EF)afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant down to the ^[ck]outposts of the army that was in the camp. ¹² Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley ^(EG)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^(EH)as numerous as the sand on the seashore. ¹³ When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I ^[cl]had a dream; ^[cm]a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it ^[cn]upside down so that the tent lay flat.” ¹⁴ His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp ^(EI)into his hand.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” ¹⁶ He divided the 300 men into three ^[co]companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ He said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, ^[cp]do as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

Confusion of the Enemy

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰ When the three ^[cq]companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ Each stood in his place around the camp; and ^(EJ)all the ^[cr]army ran, crying out as they fled. ²² When they blew 300 trumpets, the ^(EK)Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole ^[cs]army; and the ^[ct]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^(EL)Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ²³ The men of Israel were summoned from ^(EM)Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴ Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down ^[cu]against Midian and ^(EN)take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ They captured the two leaders of Midian, ^(EO)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 ^(EP)from across the Jordan.

Zebah and Zalmunna Routed

8 Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “^(EQ)What is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him vigorously. ² But 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 the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their ^[cv]anger toward him subsided when he said ^[cw]that.

⁴ Then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came ^(ER)to the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing. ⁵ He said to the men of ^(ES)Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶ The leaders of Succoth said, “^[cx](ET)Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷ Gideon said, “^[cy]All right, ^(EU)when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will ^[cz]thrash your ^[da]bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸ He went up from there to ^[db](EV)Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I return safely, ^(EW)I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their ^[dc]armies with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire ^[dd]army of the sons of the east; ^(EX)for the fallen were 120,000 ^[de]swordsmen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and ^[df]attacked the camp when the camp was ^[dg]unsuspecting. ¹² When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole ^[dh]army.

¹³ Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle ^[di]by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ And he captured a youth ^[dj]from Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, ‘^[dk](EY)Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’” ¹⁶ He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he ^[dl]disciplined the men of Succoth with them. ^17 (EZ)He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” And they said, “They were like you, each one ^[dm]resembling the son of a king.” ¹⁹ 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 fall on us; for as the man, so is his strength.” ^(FA)So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and ^(FB)took the crescent ornaments which were on their camels’ necks.

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered 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; ^(FC)the Lord shall rule over you.” ²⁴ Yet Gideon said to them, “I would ^[dn]request of you, that each of you give me ^[do]an earring from his spoil.” (For they had gold earrings, because they were ^(FD)Ishmaelites.) ²⁵ They said, “We will surely give them.” So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. ²⁶ The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Gideon made it into ^(FE)an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that 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 ^(FF)Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. ³⁰ Now Gideon had ^(FG)seventy sons who ^[dp]were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. ³¹ His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he ^[dq]named him Abimelech. ³² And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe 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, ^(FH)that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made ^(FI)Baal-berith their god. ³⁴ Thus the sons of Israel ^(FJ)did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; ^35 (FK)nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.