1 ARST Then the soldiers from the tribe of Ephraim said to Gideon,“Why have you acted toward us like this? When you went out to fight against the army of Midian, why did you not call us to help you?” They argued very much with Gideon. BSB BSB: Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently.
2 ARST But Gideon replied,“I have done very little compared with what you have done! The grapes you do not bother to pick in the land of Ephraim are much better than the whole harvest among the descendants of Abiezer! BSB BSB: But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?
3 ARST God helped you defeat Oreb and Zeeb, the generals of the army from Midian. That is much more important than what I did!” After Gideon told them that, they no longer resented what he had done. BSB BSB: God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger against him subsided.
4 ARST Then Gideon and his three hundred men went east. They came to the Jordan River and crossed it. Although they were very tired, they continued to pursue their enemies. BSB BSB: Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit.
5 ARST When they arrived at the town of Succoth, Gideon said to the town leaders,“Please give my men bread that they may eat it! They are very tired. We are pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” BSB BSB: So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
6 ARST But the leaders of Succoth replied,“You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet. So why should we give food to your troops now? Catch them first, and then we will give you food.” BSB BSB: But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?”
7 ARST Gideon replied,“Because you said that, after Yahweh enables us to defeat Zebah and Zalmunna, we will return. And then we will make whips from thorns from the desert, and with them we will rip the flesh off your bones!” BSB BSB: “Very well,” Gideon replied, “when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!”
8 ARST Gideon and his three hundred men went up to Peniel and asked for food there in the same way. But the people gave him the same answer. BSB BSB: From there he went up to Penuel and asked the same from them, but the men of Penuel gave the same response as the men of Succoth.
9 ARST So he said to the men of Peniel,“After I defeat those kings and make peace, then I will come and pull down this tower!” BSB BSB: So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!”
10 ARST By that time, Zebah and Zalmunna had gone to Karkor town with fifteen thousand troops. They were all that were left of the armies that had come from the people of the East, and 120, 000 of their men had already been killed. BSB BSB: Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already fallen.
11 ARST Gideon and his men went east along the road on which caravans travel. They went past the villages of Nobah and Jogbehah and arrived at the enemy camp by surprise. BSB BSB: And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise.
12 ARST Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon’ s men pursued them. He captured the two kings of Midian— Zebah and Zalmunna, and their whole army was sent off in confusion. BSB BSB: When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army.
13 ARST After that, Gideon and his men took Zebah and Zalmunna with them and started to return, going through the pass of Heres. BSB BSB: After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres.
14 ARST There he captured a young man from Succoth, and demanded that he write down the names of all of the leaders in the town. The young man wrote down seventy- seven names. BSB BSB: There he captured a young man of Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth.
15 ARST Then Gideon and his men returned to Succoth and said to those leaders,“Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you made fun of me and said‘You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet! After you catch them, we will give your exhausted men some food.’” BSB BSB: And Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your weary men?’”
16 ARST Then Gideon’ s men took the town leaders and whipped them with whips made from briers from the desert, to teach them that they deserved to be punished for not giving them food. BSB BSB: Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth.
17 ARST Then they went to Peniel and tore down the tower, and killed all the men in the town. BSB BSB: He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18 ARST Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna,“The men you killed near Mount Tabor, what did they look like?” They replied,“They were like you; they all looked like they were sons of a king.” BSB BSB: Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” “Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.”
19 ARST Gideon replied,“They were my brothers! Just as surely as Yahweh lives, I would not kill you if you had not killed them.” BSB BSB: “They were my brothers,” Gideon replied, “the sons of my mother! As surely as the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
20 ARST Then he turned to his oldest son, Jether. He said to him,“Kill them!” But Jether was only a boy, and he was afraid, so he did not pull out his sword to kill them. BSB BSB: So he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword; he was fearful because he was still a youth.
21 ARST Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon,“Do not ask a young boy to do the work that a man should do!” So Gideon killed both of them. Then he took the golden crescent- shaped ornaments from the necks of their camels. BSB BSB: Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.
22 ARST Then a group of Israelite men came to Gideon and said to him,“You be our ruler! We want you and your son and your grandsons to be our rulers, because you rescued us from the Midian army.” BSB BSB: Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and grandson—for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”
23 ARST But Gideon replied,“No, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.” BSB BSB: But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.”
24 ARST Then he said,“I request only one thing. I request that each of you give me one earring from the things you captured after the battle.” Now all the men descended from Ishmael wore gold earrings. BSB BSB: Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)
25 ARST They replied,“We will be glad to give the earrings to you!” So they spread a cloth on the ground, and each man threw on it the gold earrings that he had taken from those whom he had killed in the battle. BSB BSB: “We will give them gladly,” they replied. So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it.
26 ARST The weight of all the earrings was twenty kilograms. That did not include other things that they gave to Gideon— the other ornaments or the pendants or the clothes that their kings wore or the gold chains that were on the necks of their camels. BSB BSB: The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels.
27 ARST Gideon made a sacred garment for the people and put it in his hometown of Ophrah. Soon the people worshiped it instead of worshiping only God. Gideon and all his family sinned by worshiping it. BSB BSB: From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
28 ARST That is how the Israelites defeated the people from Midian. The people of Midian did not become strong enough to attack Israel again. So while Gideon was alive, there was peace in the land for forty years. BSB BSB: In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon,
29 ARST Gideon went back home to live there. BSB BSB: and he—Jerubbaal son of Joash—returned home and settled down.
30 ARST He had many wives, and they bore him seventy sons. BSB BSB: Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.
31 ARST He also had a slave wife in the city of Shechem, who bore him a son whom he named Abimelech. BSB BSB: His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
32 ARST Gideon son of Joash died when he was very old. They buried his body in the grave where his father Joash was buried, at Ophrah, in the land of the Abietherites. BSB BSB: Later, Gideon 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 ARST But as soon as Gideon died, the Israelites left God and gave themselves to worship the images of the god Baal, like adultresses leave their husbands and go to other men. They made Baal- Berith the god they worshiped. BSB BSB: And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.
34 ARST They forgot about Yahweh, the one who had rescued them from all their enemies that surrounded them. BSB BSB: The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.
35 ARST And even though Gideon had done many good things for the Israelites, they did not act kindly toward Gideon’ s family. BSB BSB: They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for Israel.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.