1And the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him fiercely.
2And he said to them, “What have I now done in comparison with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3Into your hand God gave the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their spirit toward him subsided when he spoke this word.
4And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, weary yet still pursuing.
5And he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
6But the princes of Succoth said, “Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
7And Gideon said, “Therefore, when Yahweh gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with the briers.”
8And he went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way, but the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.
9And he said also to the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.”
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand, all who remained of the whole army of the people of the east; the fallen were a hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword.
11And Gideon went up by the route of those dwelling in tents, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he struck the camp while the camp was unsuspecting.
12And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them; and he captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he routed the whole army.
13And Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres.
14And he captured a young man from the men of Succoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.
15And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your weary men?’”
16And he took the elders of the city and the thorns of the wilderness and the briers, and with them he taught a lesson to the men of Succoth.
17And he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” And they said, “As you are, so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king.”
19And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
20And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.
21And Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and strike us, for as a man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon rose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
22And the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—both you and your son and your son’s son—for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”
23And Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you.”
24And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: give me each man an earring from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25And they said, “We will surely give.” And they spread out the garment, and each man threw there an earring from his spoil.
26And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments that were on the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were on the necks of their camels.
27And Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel prostituted themselves after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.
28And Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not raise their heads again. And the land was at rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.
29And Jerubbaal son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.
30And Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
31And his concubine who was in Shechem, she too bore him a son, and he set his name as Abimelech.
32And Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33And it happened, when Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel turned back and prostituted themselves after the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as a god for themselves.
34And the sons of Israel did not remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their surrounding enemies.
35And they did not show loyal love to the house of Jerubbaal—that is, Gideon—according to all the good that he had done for Israel.
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