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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 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../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="../topmenuchap/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="../">NLT</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 class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/judges/8.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Gideon Kills Zebah and Zalmunna</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Then the people of Ephraim asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us this way? Why didn’t you send for us when you first went out to fight the Midianites?” And they argued heatedly with Gideon.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>But Gideon replied, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t even the leftover grapes of Ephraim’s harvest better than the entire crop of my little clan of Abiezer? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>God gave you victory over Oreb and Zeeb, the commanders of the Midianite army. What have I accomplished compared to that?” When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon’s answer, their anger subsided.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Gideon then crossed the Jordan River with his 300 men, and though exhausted, they continued to chase the enemy. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>When they reached Succoth, Gideon asked the leaders of the town, “Please give my warriors some food. They are very tired. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>But the officials of Succoth replied, “Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your army.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>So Gideon said, “After the LORD gives me victory over Zebah and Zalmunna, I will return and tear your flesh with the thorns and briers from the wilderness.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>From there Gideon went up to Peniel<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> and again asked for food, but he got the same answer. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>So he said to the people of Peniel, “After I return in victory, I will tear down this tower.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>By this time Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with about 15,000 warriors—all that remained of the allied armies of the east, for 120,000 had already been killed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Gideon circled around by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, taking the Midianite army by surprise. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Zebah and Zalmunna, the two Midianite kings, fled, but Gideon chased them down and captured all their warriors.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>After this, Gideon returned from the battle by way of Heres Pass. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>There he captured a young man from Succoth and demanded that he write down the names of all the seventy-seven officials and elders in the town. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Gideon then returned to Succoth and said to the leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you taunted me, saying, ‘Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your exhausted army.’” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then Gideon took the elders of the town and taught them a lesson, punishing them with thorns and briers from the wilderness. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>He also tore down the tower of Peniel and killed all the men in the town.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed at Tabor—what were they like?”</p><p class="reg">“Like you,” they replied. “They all had the look of a king’s son.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother!” Gideon exclaimed. “As surely as the LORD lives, I wouldn’t kill you if you hadn’t killed them.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, for he was only a boy and was afraid.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Be a man! Kill us yourself!” So Gideon killed them both and took the royal ornaments from the necks of their camels.</p><p class="hdg">Gideon’s Sacred Ephod</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD will rule over you! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>However, I do have one request—that each of you give me an earring from the plunder you collected from your fallen enemies.” (The enemies, being Ishmaelites, all wore gold earrings.)</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>“Gladly!” they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered from the plunder. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>That is the story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Then Gideon<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> son of Joash returned home. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Gideon died when he was very old, and he was buried in the grave of his father, Joash, at Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>They forgot the LORD their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/8-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>Nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon), despite all the good he had done for Israel.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">8:8 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">Penuel,</span><span class="ft"> a variant spelling of Peniel; also in 8:9, 17.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">8:26 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">1,700 [shekels]</span><span class="ft"> [19.4 kilograms].</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">8:29 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">Jerub-baal;</span><span class="ft"> see 6:32.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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