Judges 8–10

Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna

8^zThen the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused him fiercely. ²And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not ^athe gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? ^3bGod has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” ^cThen their anger¹ against him subsided when he said this.

⁴And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and ^dthe 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. ⁵So he said to the men of ^eSuccoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶And the officials of Succoth said, ^f“Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, ^gthat we should give bread to your army?” ⁷So Gideon said, “Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, ^hI will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸And from there he went up to ⁱPenuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹And he said to the men of Penuel, ^j“When I come again in peace, ^kI will break down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of ^lthe people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men ^mwho drew the sword. ¹¹And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of ⁿNobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt ^osecure. ¹²And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them ^pand captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic.

¹³Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ^q‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’ ” ¹⁶And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. ^17rAnd he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at ^sTabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king.” ¹⁹And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. ^tAs the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” ²⁰So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise and kill them!” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man. ²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon arose and ^ukilled Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took ^vthe crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon’s Ephod

²²Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; ^wthe Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, ^xbecause they were Ishmaelites.) ²⁵And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. ²⁶And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels² of gold, besides ^ythe crescent ornaments and ^zthe pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. ²⁷And Gideon ^amade an ephod of it and put it in his city, ^bin Ophrah. And all Israel ^cwhored after it there, and it became a ^dsnare to Gideon and to his family. ²⁸So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. ^eAnd the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death of Gideon

^29fJerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. ³⁰Now Gideon had ^gseventy sons, his own offspring,³ for he had many wives. ³¹And his concubine ^hwho was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. ³²And Gideon the son of Joash died ⁱin a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, ^jat Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

^33kAs soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and ^lwhored after the Baals and made ^mBaal-berith their god. ³⁴And the people of Israel ⁿdid not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, ^35oand they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to ^phis mother’s relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family, ²“Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all ^qseventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that ^pI am ^ryour bone and your flesh.”

³And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, ^s“He is our brother.” ⁴And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of ^tBaal-berith with which Abimelech hired ^uworthless and reckless fellows, who followed him. ⁵And he went to his father’s house at ^vOphrah ^wand killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. ⁶And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all ^xBeth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.

⁷When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of ^yMount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ^8zThe trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ^a‘Reign over us.’ ⁹But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹²And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that ^bcheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and ^ctake refuge in my shade, but if not, ^dlet fire come out of the bramble and devour ^ethe cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶“Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^fJerubbaal and his house and have done to him ^gas his deeds deserved— ¹⁷for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, ¹⁸and you have risen up against my father’s house this day ^hand have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made ⁱAbimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, ^jbecause he is your relative— ¹⁹if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then ^krejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰But if not, ^llet fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” ²¹And Jotham ran away and fled and went to ^mBeer and lived there, because of Abimelech his brother.

The Downfall of Abimelech

²²Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. ²³ⁿAnd God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem ^odealt treacherously with Abimelech, ^24pthat the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. ²⁵And the leaders of Shechem put men in ambush against him on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way. And it was told to Abimelech.

²⁶And Gaal the son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his relatives, and the leaders of Shechem put confidence in him. ²⁷And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them and held a festival; and they went into ^qthe house of their god and ate and drank and reviled Abimelech. ²⁸And Gaal the son of Ebed said, ^r“Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of ^sHamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ²⁹Would that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech. I would say¹ to Abimelech, ‘Increase your army, and come out.’ ”

³⁰When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. ³¹And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly,² saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up³ the city against you. ³²Now therefore, go by night, you and the people who are with you, and set an ambush in the field. ³³Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, rise…