Thematic Bible
Judges 8:1 (show verse)
The men of Ephraim said to him, "What [is] this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?" And they quarreled with him severely.
Judges 8:2 (show verse)
And he said to them, "What I have done now in comparison with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?
Judges 8:3 (show verse)
God has given into your hand the commanders of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?" And their {anger} against him subsided when {he said that}.
Judges 8:4 (show verse)
Then Gideon came to the Jordan, crossing it with the three hundred men who [were] with him, weary and pursuing.
Judges 8:5 (show verse)
He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who [are] {following me}, for they [are] weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."
Judges 8:6 (show verse)
The officials of Succoth said, "Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand now, that we should give bread to your army?"
Judges 8:7 (show verse)
Gideon said, "Well then, when Yahweh gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will trample your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness."
Judges 8:8 (show verse)
He went from there [to] Penuel, and he spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.
Judges 8:9 (show verse)
And he said also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I return {safely}, I will tear down this tower."
Judges 8:10 (show verse)
Now Zebah and Zalmunna [were] in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men remained from the entire army of the people of [the] east; those that fell [in battle were] one hundred and twenty thousand {swordsmen}.
Judges 8:11 (show verse)
And Gideon went up the route of those who dwell in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the army when it was off its guard.
Judges 8:12 (show verse)
And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he routed the entire army.
Judges 8:13 (show verse)
Then Gideon son of Jehoash returned from the battle {by way of} the ascent of Heres.
Judges 8:14 (show verse)
He captured a young man {from Succoth} and questioned him. [The young man] listed for him the commanders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.
Judges 8:15 (show verse)
He came to the men of Succoth, and he said, "Here [is] Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, '[Is] the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand now, that we should give food to your weary men?'"
Judges 8:16 (show verse)
He took the elders of the city and [the] thorn bushes and briers of the wilderness, and {he trampled} the men of Succoth with them.
Judges 8:17 (show verse)
He broke down the tower of Penuel, and he killed the men of the city.
Judges 8:18 (show verse)
And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What type [were] the men whom you killed at Tabor?" And they said, "{They were like you}; each [one of them] had the appearance of the sons of the king."
Judges 8:19 (show verse)
He said, "They [were] my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had kept them alive I would not kill you."
Judges 8:20 (show verse)
And he said to Jether, his firstborn, "Get up, kill them." But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he [was] still a boy.
Judges 8:21 (show verse)
Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Get up yourself, and strike us, for as [is] the man, so [is] his power." So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
Judges 8:22 (show verse)
The men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your sons, and your sons' son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.
Judges 8:23 (show verse)
But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you."
Judges 8:24 (show verse)
And Gideon said to them, "{Let me make a request of you}, that each of you give to me an ornamental ring from his plunder." (They [had] ornamental rings of gold, because they [were] Ishmaelites.)
Judges 8:25 (show verse)
They said, "We will gladly give [them]," and they spread out a garment, and everyone threw there an ornamental ring of his plunder.
Judges 8:26 (show verse)
The weight of the ornamental rings of gold that he requested [was] one thousand seven hundred [shekels of] gold, apart from the crescents, pendants, and purple garments that [were] on the kings of Midian, and apart from the pendants that [were] on the necks of their camels.
Judges 8:27 (show verse)
Gideon made an ephod [out of] it, and he put it in his town in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted [themselves] to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
Judges 8:28 (show verse)
And Midian was subdued before the {Israelites}, and they did not again lift up their head, and the land rested for forty years in the days of Gideon.
Judges 8:29 (show verse)
Jerub-Baal son of Joash lived in his own house.
Judges 8:30 (show verse)
Now Gideon had seventy sons, {his own offspring}, for he had many wives.
Judges 8:31 (show verse)
His concubine who [was] in Shechem also bore for him a son, and {he named him} Abimelech.
Judges 8:32 (show verse)
And Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of Jehoash his father, in Ophrah [of] the Abiezrites.
Judges 8:33 (show verse)
And it happened, as soon as Gideon died, the {Israelites} returned and prostituted [themselves] after the Baals, and they made for themselves Baal-Berith as god.
Judges 8:34 (show verse)
The {Israelites} did not remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them from the hand of their enemies from all around,
Judges 8:35 (show verse)
nor did they show favor to the house of Jerub-Baal ([that is], Gideon) in accordance with all the good that he did for Israel.