# Judges 8

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/8

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?” They quarreled with him fiercely.
2. He said to them, “What have I done now compared with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the whole grape harvest of Abiezer?
3. God gave the commanders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hands. What was I able to do compared with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.
4. Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted but still pursuing.
5. He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
6. But the officials of Succoth said, “Do you already have Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
7. Gideon said, “Very well. When Yahweh has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”
8. From there he went up to Penuel and made the same request of them, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.
9. So he said to the men of Penuel also, “When I come back safely, I will tear down this tower.”
10. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of the whole army of the people of the East; 120,000 men who drew the sword had fallen.
11. Gideon went up by the route of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, which felt secure.
12. Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw their whole army into panic.
13. Then Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres.
14. He captured a young man from Succoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.
15. Then he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Do you already have Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand, that we should give bread to your exhausted men?’”
16. He took the elders of the town, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth a lesson.
17. He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the town.
18. Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “They were like you. Each one of them looked like a king’s son.”
19. He said, “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As Yahweh lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
20. Then he said to Jether his firstborn, “Get up and kill them!” But the boy did not draw his sword, because he was afraid, for he was still only a boy.
21. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up yourself and strike us down, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
22. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson as well, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”
23. Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.”
24. Then Gideon said to them, “Let me make one request of you: each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” For the enemy had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.
25. They said, “We will gladly give them.” So they spread out a cloak, and each man threw on it an earring from his plunder.
26. The weight of the gold earrings he requested came to 1,700 shekels of gold, not counting the crescent ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains that were on the necks of their camels.
27. Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his town, in Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
28. So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they did not raise their heads again. The land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.
29. Jerubbaal son of Joash went back and lived in his own house.
30. Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
31. His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
32. Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33. As soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned back and prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-berith their god.
34. The Israelites did not remember Yahweh their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side.
35. Nor did they show loyalty to the family of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

## Nearby chapters

[Judges 7](https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/7.md)
[Judges 9](https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/9.md)

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