Previous     Next       Play // Stop Sound    

          DASV: Judges 8    

1 Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, "Why did you treat us
like that? You didn't call us when you went to fight against
Midian." They castigated him sharply.
2 He replied, "What have I accomplished in comparison to you?
Aren't the leftover grapes of Ephraim better than the full
harvest of Abiezer?
3 God has handed over the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb,
into your hand. What was I able to do to match that?"
When he said that, their anger subsided.
4 Gideon came to the Jordan River, and crossed over, he,
and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted, yet still
pursuing the Midianites.

5 So he said to the men of Succoth, "Please give some loaves
of bread to the troops that are following me, for they
are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna,
the kings of Midian."
6 But the princes of Succoth retorted, "You don’t already
have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna do you? So why
should we give bread to your army?"
7 Then Gideon threatened, "Alright, when the LORD has
handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to my hand, then I will
tear your flesh with the desert thorns and briers."

8 Then he went up from there to Penuel, and spoke to them
the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him the
same way as the men of Succoth had.
9 So he also threatened the men of Penuel, "When I come
back after the victory, I will break down this tower."

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army,
about 15,000 men, all who were left from all the troops
of the people of the east, for 120,000 men who drew
the sword had already fallen.
11 Then Gideon went up by the way of the caravan route east
of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the unsuspecting enemy army.
12 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he chased them down and
captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna,
and sent the entire army into a panic.

13 Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle
by the Ascent of Heres.
14 He caught a young man from Succoth, and interrogated him.
He wrote down for Gideon the names of the seventy-seven
princes and elders of Succoth.
15 Then he came to the people of Succoth, and said, "Look,
here are Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you ridiculed me,
saying, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand,
that we should give bread to your exhausted troops?'"
16 So he took the elders of Succoth, and taught them a lesson
by threshing them with the thorns and briers of the desert.
17 Then he tore down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men
of the town.

18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What were the men you
killed at Tabor like?" They answered, "They were like you,
each one resembled the son of a king."
19 Gideon replied, "They were my brothers, the sons of my
mother. As the LORD lives, if you had kept them alive,
I would not kill you now."
20 Then he said to Jether his firstborn, "Get up, and kill
them." But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was
afraid because he was just a boy.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Get up, and kill us yourself.
'The proof of the man is his strength.'" So Gideon got up,
and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments
that were on their camels' necks.

22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you,
and your son, and your son's son also; for you have saved
us out of the hand of Midian."
23 But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, neither
will my son rule over you, the LORD will rule over you."
24 Then Gideon said to them, "I do have one request for you.
Each of you give me the earrings you took as plunder.
(For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25 They answered, "We are glad to give them." So they spread
out a garment, and each man threw in the earrings taken
in the booty.
26 The weight of the golden earrings he requested was a
forty-three pounds of gold, besides the crescent ornaments,
the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of
Midian, and the chains that hung around their camels' necks.
27 From it Gideon made a gold ephod, and put it in his town,
in Ophrah. But all Israel prostituted themselves before
it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his house.
28 So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they
no longer lifted their arrogant heads. The land had rest
forty years in the days of Gideon.

29 Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his
own house.
30 Gideon fathered seventy sons for he had many wives.
31 His concubine who was in Shechem, also bore him a son,
and he called his name Abimelech.
32 Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age,
and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father,
in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 As soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned again,
and prostituted themselves worshipping the Baals.
They made Baal-berith their god.
34 The Israelites did not remember the LORD their God,
who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies
on every side.
35 They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal,
(that is, Gideon), in return for all the good things
he had done for Israel.

 Previous     Next       Play // Stop Sound