Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna 1 UST Then the soldiers from the tribe of Ephraim told Gideon,“You have not treated us fairly! You should have given us the opportunity to help you fight against the army of Midian!” They argued very angrily 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 UST But Gideon told them,“I have done very little compared with what you have done! It is as if I and my soldiers from the clan of Abiezer and other Israelite tribes harvested a crop of grapes. And it is as if you soldiers from the tribe of Ephraim came along after us and collected the few grapes that we had left on the vines. And it is as if those few grapes you collected were better than the whole crop that we harvested. 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 UST God enabled you to capture Oreb and Zeeb, the rulers who were commanding the Midianite army. What you did is much more important than what I was able to do!” After Gideon told them that, they were no longer angry with him. 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 UST Then Gideon and his 300 men came to the Jordan River and crossed it. They were very tired, but they continued to chase their enemies. BSB BSB: Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit.
5 UST When they arrived at the town of Succoth, Gideon said to the town leaders,“Please give my soldiers something to eat. They are tired and hungry, and we are still trying to capture the Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna.” 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 UST But the leaders of Succoth replied,“You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet! So we are not going to give your troops anything to eat.” 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 UST Gideon replied,“Because you have refused to give us food, we will return here after Yahweh enables us to capture Zebah and Zalmunna. We are going to make whips out of the stems of thorny desert plants. Then we are going to use them to whip you and cut you!” 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 UST Next Gideon and his 300 men went to the town of Penuel and asked for food there. But the town leaders of Penuel also refused to give them anything to eat. 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 UST So Gideon told the town leaders of Penuel,“I am going to defeat those kings. Then I will come back here and demolish your tower{, which you think is going to protect you}!” BSB BSB: So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!”
10 UST By that time, Zebah and Zalmunna had gone to the town of Karkor with 15, 000 troops. Those were all who were left of the armies of Midian, Amalek, and the desert tribes that were their allies. Of their fighting men, 120, 000 had already died. 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 UST Gideon and his men took the road through the wilderness on which caravans travel. This took them east of the villages of Nobah and Jogbehah. The Midianite soldiers were feeling safe out in the wilderness, so Gideon was able to attack them 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 UST When Gideon and his soldiers attacked, the Midianite army panicked and ran away. Zebah and Zalmunna tried to escape, but Gideon and his soldiers chased them. And they captured those two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. BSB BSB: When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army.
13 UST After that, Gideon the son of Joash and his men{ took Zebah and Zalmunna with them} and started to return home. They went through the Ascent of Heres. BSB BSB: After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres.
14 UST Gideon was able to capture a young man who lived in Succoth. Gideon made him tell him who were all the leaders and elders of the town. The young man wrote down the names of all 77 of those men. 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 UST Then Gideon and his men went into Succoth and said to those leaders,“Here are Zebah and Zalmunna! When we were here before, you made fun of me. You said‘You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet! So we are not going to give your hungry troops anything to eat.’” 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 UST Then Gideon and his men grabbed the town leaders. They made whips from the stems of thorny desert plants, and they whipped the town leaders with them. They did that to punish the leaders 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 UST Then Gideon and his men went to the town of Penuel. They tore down the tower and killed men in that town. BSB BSB: He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18 UST Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna,“You and your soldiers killed some men near Mount Tabor. Tell me about those men.” They replied,“They looked like you. They all looked like royal princes.” 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 UST Gideon replied,“Those men were my own brothers! I swear by Yahweh that I would spare your lives now if you had spared their lives then.” 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 UST Then Gideon turned to his oldest son, Jether. He told him,“Now you kill these two kings!” But Jether was still only a boy, so 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 UST Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon,“Do not ask a boy to do the work that a man should do! You kill us yourself.” So Gideon killed both of them. Then he took the golden crescent- shaped ornaments that their camels were wearing. 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.
Gideon’s Ephod 22 UST Then the soldiers whom Gideon had led into battle told him,“You should be our king! In fact, we want you and your son and your grandson to be our kings. That is because you rescued us from the Midianites who were oppressing us.” 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 UST But Gideon told them,“No, I will not be your king. My son will not be your king either. Yahweh is your real king.” BSB BSB: But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.”
24 UST But he added,“There is one thing that I would like you to do for me. Would each of you please give me one earring from the things you captured after the battle?”(The Midianite soldiers were descendants of Ishmael, and it was their custom to wear golden 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 UST They replied,“We will each be glad to give an earring to you!” So they spread out a large garment on the ground. Then each man threw a gold earring onto it from the things he had taken from the enemy soldiers 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 UST The golden earrings that Gideon received weighed a total of over 20 kilograms. That weight did not include some other things that Gideon received. He also received gold, jewels, and luxurious purple robes that the Midianite kings had been wearing and gold chains that had been around their camels’ necks. 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 UST Gideon used the gold to make a sacred garment. He set it up in his hometown of Ophrah. The people of Israel started going there to worship it, instead of worshiping only Yahweh. Gideon and his family had great trouble because of this. 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.
Forty Years of Peace 28 UST So that is the story of how the Israelites defeated the army of Midian. The people of Midian did not become strong enough to attack Israel again. So while Gideon was alive, Israel was a peaceful place for 40 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 UST Then Gideon son of Joash, whom people also called Jerubbaal, went back home to live there. BSB BSB: and he—Jerubbaal son of Joash—returned home and settled down.
30 UST Gideon had many full legal wives, and they bore him 70 sons. BSB BSB: Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.
31 UST Gideon also had a secondary wife in the city of Shechem. She too bore him a son, and Gideon named him Abimelech. BSB BSB: His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
Gideon’s Death 32 UST Gideon son of Joash lived for a long time. When he died, his family buried his body in the burial ground that his father Joash owned. This was in the town of Ophrah in the territory that belonged to the clan of Abiezer. 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 UST But as soon as Gideon died, the Israelites were unfaithful to Yahweh. They once again worshiped idols that represented gods such as Baal. They made an idol that they called Baal- Berith, and they worshiped it as their god. 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 UST The enemy nations that surrounded the Israelites had conquered them. Yahweh their God had rescued the Israelites from their control. But they were not grateful for this. 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 UST Gideon, whom people also called Jerubbaal, had done many good things for the Israelites. But they did not act kindly toward his 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.