King James Version › Judges › 8

Judges

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1 And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wen­test to fight with the Mid­i­an­ites? And they did chide with him sharply. 2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in com­par­i­son of you? Is not the glean­ing of the grapes of Ephraim bet­ter than the vin­tage of Abiez­er? 3 God hath de­liv­ered into your hands the princes of Mid­i­an, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in com­par­i­son of you? Then their anger was abat­ed to­ward him, when he had said that. 4 And Gideon came to Jor­dan, and passed over, he, and the three hun­dred men that were with him, faint, yet pur­su­ing them. 5 And he said unto the men of Suc­coth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the peo­ple that fol­low me; for they be faint, and I am pur­su­ing af­ter Ze­bah and Zal­munna, kings of Mid­i­an. 6 And the princes of Suc­coth said, Are the hands of Ze­bah and Zal­munna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? 7 And Gideon said, There­fore when the LORD hath de­liv­ered Ze­bah and Zal­munna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilder­ness and with briers. 8 And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them like­wise: and the men of Penuel an­swered him as the men of Suc­coth had an­swered him. 9 And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, say­ing, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tow­er. 10 Now Ze­bah and Zal­munna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fif­teen thou­sand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the chil­dren of the east: for there fell an hun­dred and twen­ty thou­sand men that drew sword. 11 And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jog­be­hah, and smote the host: for the host was se­cure. 12 And when Ze­bah and Zal­munna fled, he pur­sued af­ter them, and took the two kings of Mid­i­an, Ze­bah and Zal­munna, and dis­com­fit­ed all the host. 13 And Gideon the son of Joash re­turned from bat­tle be­fore the sun was up, 14 And caught a young man of the men of Suc­coth, and en­quired of him: and he de­scribed unto him the princes of Suc­coth, and the el­ders there­of, even three­score and sev­en­teen men. 15 And he came unto the men of Suc­coth, and said, Be­hold Ze­bah and Zal­munna, with whom ye did up­braid me, say­ing, Are the hands of Ze­bah and Zal­munna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? 16 And he took the el­ders of the city, and thorns of the wilder­ness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Suc­coth. 17 And he beat down the tow­er of Penuel, and slew the men of the city. 18 Then said he unto Ze­bah and Zal­munna, What man­ner of men were they whom ye slew at Ta­bor? And they an­swered, As thou art, so were they; each one re­sem­bled the chil­dren of a king. 19 And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my moth­er: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you. 20 And he said unto Jether his first­born, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, be­cause he was yet a youth. 21 Then Ze­bah and Zal­munna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Ze­bah and Zal­munna, and took away the or­na­ments that were on their camels' necks. 22 Then the men of Is­rael said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son al­so: for thou hast de­liv­ered us from the hand of Mid­i­an. 23 And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, nei­ther shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you. 24 And Gideon said unto them, I would de­sire a re­quest of you, that ye would give me ev­ery man the ear­rings of his prey. (For they had gold­en ear­rings, be­cause they were Ish­maelites.) 25 And they an­swered, We will will­ing­ly give them. And they spread a gar­ment, and did cast there­in ev­ery man the ear­rings of his prey. 26 And the weight of the gold­en ear­rings that he re­quest­ed was a thou­sand and sev­en hun­dred shekels of gold; be­side or­na­ments, and col­lars, and pur­ple rai­ment that was on the kings of Mid­i­an, and be­side the chains that were about their camels' necks. 27 And Gideon made an ephod there­of, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Is­rael went thith­er a whor­ing af­ter it: which thing be­came a snare unto Gideon, and to his house. 28 Thus was Mid­i­an sub­dued be­fore the chil­dren of Is­rael, so that they lift­ed up their heads no more. And the coun­try was in quiet­ness forty years in the days of Gideon. 29 And Jerub­baal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 30 And Gideon had three­score and ten sons of his body be­got­ten: for he had many wives. 31 And his con­cu­bine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abim­elech. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepul­chre of Joash his fa­ther, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the chil­dren of Is­rael turned again, and went a whor­ing af­ter Baal­im, and made Baal­berith their god. 34 And the chil­dren of Is­rael re­mem­bered not the LORD their God, who had de­liv­ered them out of the hands of all their en­e­mies on ev­ery side: 35 Nei­ther shewed they kind­ness to the house of Jerub­baal, namely, Gideon, ac­cord­ing to all the good­ness which he had shewed unto Is­rael.