¹And the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this thing you have done to us in not calling us, because you went to fight against Midian.” And they argued with him vehemently. ²And he said to them, “What have I done now compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the whole wine crop of Abiezer? ³God delivered Midian's commanders into your hands – Oreb and Zeeb – and what was I able to do compared to you?” Then their temper against him subsided, when he said these words. ⁴Then Gideon came to the Jordan. He and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, weary but pursuing. ⁵And he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following in my footsteps, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” ⁶But the commanders of Succoth said, “Are the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands, so that we should give your army bread?” ⁷Then Gideon said, “That presumption is why, when the Lord delivers Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thrash your flesh with the desert thorn bushes and with the briars.” ⁸Then he went up from there to Penuel and spoke similarly to them, and the men of Penuel answered him in the same way as the men of Succoth answered. ⁹And he also spoke to the men of Penuel and said, “When I return in peace, I will demolish this tower.” ¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their camps were with them – about fifteen thousand men – all those who remained from the whole camp of the easterners. And those who fell were one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword. ¹¹And Gideon went up the road to the tent-dwellers to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the camp, although the camp was secure. ¹²And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them, and he captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he routed the whole camp. ¹³Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle before sunrise. ¹⁴And he took a boy-servant of the men of Succoth, and he questioned him, and the boy described the chief men of Succoth to him, and its elders – seventy-seven men. ¹⁵Then Gideon went to the men of Succoth, and he said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you reproached me and said, ‘Are the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands, so that we should give your weary men bread?’ ” ¹⁶And he took the elders of the city, and the desert thorn bushes, and the briars, with which he gave the men of Succoth a lesson. ¹⁷And he demolished the tower of Penuel, and he killed the men of the city. ¹⁸And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they that you killed at Tabor?” And they answered, “As you are, so were they. Each one had the appearance of the king's sons.” ¹⁹Then he said, “They were my brothers – my mother's sons. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Arise and kill them.” But the lad did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, for he was still only a lad. ²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You arise and fall on us. For as a man is, so is his valour.” Then Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments which were on the camels' necks. ²²And the men of Israel said to Gideon, “You rule over us – in turn you and your son and your grandson – for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³But Gideon said to them, “I shall not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴And Gideon said to them, “Let me ask you a request. Give me every man's earring which he has as his spoil.” For they had golden earrings, for the Midianites were Ishmaelites. ²⁵And they said, “We will certainly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man cast there his earring which he had as his spoil. ²⁶And the weight of the golden earrings which he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple clothes which were on the kings of Midian, and apart from the necklaces which were on the camels' necks. ²⁷And Gideon made these things into an ephod, and he put it in his city, in Ophrah, and the whole of Israel went whoring after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household. ²⁸So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not assert themselves any more, and the land was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon. ²⁹Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash departed, and he dwelt in his house. ³⁰And Gideon had seventy sons – those who came from his thighs – for he had many wives. ³¹And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he gave him the name Abimelech. ³²And Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the grave of Joash his father, the Abi-Ezrite, in Ophrah. ³³And it came to pass, when Gideon died, that the sons of Israel went whoring after the Baalim again, and they made Baal-Berith their god. ³⁴And the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who saved them from the hand of all their enemies round about. ³⁵Nor did they deal kindly with the house of Jerubbaal – Gideon – for all the good which he did with Israel.