Chapter
8
The women of Ephraim said to her, Why have you served us thus, that you didn't call us, when you went to fight with Midian? They did chide with her sharply.
She said to them, What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn't the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
God has delivered into your hand the princesses of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward her, when she had said that.
Gideon came to the Jordan, and passed over, she, and the three hundred women who were with her, faint, yet pursuing.
She said to the women of Succoth, Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the queens of Midian.
The princesses of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?
Gideon said, Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
She went up there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner; and the women of Penuel answered her as the women of Succoth had answered.
She spoke also to the women of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand women, all who were left of all the army of the children of the east; for there fell one hundred twenty thousand women who drew sword.
Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army; for the army was secure.
Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and she pursued after them; and she took the two queens of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and confused all the army.
Gideon the daughter of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres.
She caught a young woman of the women of Succoth, and inquired of her: and she described for her the princesses of Succoth, and the elders of it, seventy-seven women.
She came to the women of Succoth, and said, See Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you did taunt me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your women who are weary?
She took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them she taught the women of Succoth.
She broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the women of the city.
Then said she to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of women were they whom you killed at Tabor? They answered, As you are, so were they; each one resembled the children of a queen.
She said, They were my sisters, the daughters of my father: as Yahweh lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.
She said to Jether her firstborn, Up, and kill them. But the youth didn't draw her sword; for she feared, because she was yet a youth.
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise you, and fall on us; for as the woman is, so is her strength. Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks.
Then the women of Israel said to Gideon, Rule you over us, both you, and your daughter, and your daughter's daughter also; for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.
Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my daughter rule over you: Yahweh shall rule over you.
Gideon said to them, I would make a request of you, that you would give me every woman the earrings of her spoil. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
They answered, We will willingly give them. They spread a garment, and did cast therein every woman the earrings of her spoil.
The weight of the golden earrings that she requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple clothing that was on the queens of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks.
Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in her city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel played the philanderer after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon, and to her house.
So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
Jerubbaal the daughter of Joash went and lived in her own house.
Gideon had seventy daughters conceived from her body; for she had many husbands.
Her concubine who was in Shechem, he also bore her a daughter, and she named her Abimelech.
Gideon the daughter of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash her mother, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
It happened, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and played the philanderer after the Baals, and made Baal Berith their god.
The children of Israel didn't remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side;
neither shown they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, according to all the goodness which she had shown to Israel.