Judges 8:5–21

^5*When they arrived at Sukkoth, he said to the men of the town, “Please give my men some loaves of bread. They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings.”

⁶But the leaders of Sukkoth said, “Why should we give your army any food? You haven’t captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet.”

⁷So Gideon said, “All right! When the Lord has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will beat you with thorns and briars from the desert!” ⁸Gideon went on to Penuel and made the same request of the people there, but the men of Penuel gave the same answer as the men of Sukkoth. ⁹So he said to them, “I am going to come back safe and sound, and when I do, I will tear your tower down!”

¹⁰Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their army. Of the whole army of desert tribesmen, only about 15,000 were left; 120,000 soldiers had been killed. ¹¹Gideon went along the road by the edge of the desert, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army by surprise. ¹²The two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, ran away, but he pursued them and captured them, and caused their whole army to panic.

¹³When Gideon was returning from the battle by way of Heres Pass, ¹⁴he captured a young man from Sukkoth and questioned him. The young man wrote down for Gideon the names of the 77 leading men of Sukkoth. ¹⁵Then Gideon went to the men of Sukkoth and said, “Remember when you refused to help me? You said that you couldn’t give any food to my exhausted army because I hadn’t captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet. Well, here they are!” ¹⁶He then took thorns and briars from the desert and used them to punish the leaders of Sukkoth. ¹⁷He also tore down the tower at Penuel and killed the men of that city.

¹⁸Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men you killed at Tabor?” They

answered, “They looked like you—every one of them like the son of a king.”

¹⁹Gideon said, “They were my brothers, my own mother’s sons. I solemnly swear that if you had not killed them, I would not kill you.” ²⁰Then he said to Jether, his eldest son, “Go ahead, kill them!” But the boy did not draw his sword. He hesitated, because he was still only a boy.

²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, kill us yourself. It takes a man to do a man’s job.” So Gideon killed them and took the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.