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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Judges 8</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/bsb/spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmc//judges/8-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/judges/">Judges</a> > Judges 8</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/7.htm" title="Judges 7">◄</a> Judges 8 <a href="../judges/9.htm" title="Judges 9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div align="center" id="jump2"><a href="/niv/judges/8.htm">NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/judges/8.htm">NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/judges/8.htm">ESV</a> • <a href="/kjv/judges/8.htm">KJV</a> • <a href="/nkjv/judges/8.htm">NKJ</a> • <a href="/nasb/judges/8.htm">NAS</a></div><br /><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="1%" valign="top">BSB</td><td width="99%" valign="top" align="right"><a href="/parallel/judges/8.htm" style="font-weight:normal" title="Parallel Chapters">Parallel Chapters ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><A name="2"></a><p class="hdg">Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>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. <A name="3"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>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? <A name="4"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>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<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">a</a></span> against him subsided. <A name="5"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit. <A name="6"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>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.” <A name="7"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>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?” <A name="8"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“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!” <A name="9"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>From there he went up to Penuel<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">b</a></span> and asked the same from them, but the men of Penuel gave the same response as the men of Succoth. <A name="10"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!” <A name="11"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>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. <A name="12"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise. <A name="13"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army. <A name="14"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres. <A name="15"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>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. <A name="16"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>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?’<span class="thinq"> </span>” <A name="17"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth. <A name="18"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. <A name="19"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” <p class="reg">“Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.” <A name="20"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“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.” <A name="21"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>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. <A name="22"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>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. <A name="23"></a><p class="hdg">Gideon’s Ephod<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>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.” <A name="24"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.” <A name="25"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>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.) <A name="26"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>“We will give them gladly,” they replied. <p class="reg"> So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it. <A name="27"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels,<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">c</a></span> 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. <A name="28"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>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. <A name="29"></a><p class="hdg">Forty Years of Peace<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>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, <A name="30"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>and he—Jerubbaal<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">d</a></span> son of Joash—returned home and settled down. <A name="31"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Gideon had seventy sons of his own,<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">e</a></span> since he had many wives. <A name="32"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. <A name="33"></a><p class="hdg">Gideon’s Death<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>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. <A name="34"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>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. <A name="35"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/8-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for Israel.</p><A name="fn"></a><div id="fnlink"><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:</b><br><br><span class="fnverse">3</span> <span class="footnotesbot">a</span> Or <i>their spirit</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">8</span> <span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <i>Penuel</i><span class="thin"> </span> is a variant of <i>Peniel</i><span class="thin"> </span>; also in verses 9 and 17; see <a href="../genesis/32.htm#30">Genesis 32:30</a>.<br><span class="fnverse">26</span> <span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <i>1,700 shekels</i><span class="thin"> </span> is approximately 42.7 pounds or 19.4 kilograms.<br><span class="fnverse">29</span> <span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <i>Jerubbaal</i><span class="thin"> </span> is another name for <i>Gideon</i><span class="thin"> </span> and probably means <i>let Baal contend</i><span class="thin"> </span>; also in verse 35; see <a href="../judges/6.htm#32">Judges 6:32</a>.<br><span class="fnverse">30</span> <span class="footnotesbot">e</span> Hebrew <i>who came from his own loins</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><br /></div><br /></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Berean Bible (<a href=http://berean.bible>www.Berean.Bible</a>) <a href=http://bereanbible.com>Berean Study Bible (BSB)</a> © 2016, 2020 by <a href=http://biblehub.com>Bible Hub</a> and <a href=http://berean.bible>Berean.Bible</a>. 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