8:1 And the men of Efrayim said to him, Why have you served us thus, that you calledst us not, when you wentest to fight with the Midyanites? And they did chide with him sharply.
8:2 And he said to them, What have I done now in comparison of you? [Is] not the gleaning of the grapes of Efrayim better than the vintage of Avi'ezer?
8:3 Elohim (אלהים) has delivered into your hands the sarim of Midyan, Orev and Ze'ev: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
8:4 And Gid'on came to Yarden, [and] passed over, he, and the three hundred men that [were] with him, faint, yet pursuing [them].
8:5 And he said to the men of Sukkot, Give, I pray you, loaves of lechem to the people that follow me; for they [be] faint, and I am pursuing after Zevach and Tzalmuna, melakhim of Midyan.
8:6 And the sarim of Sukkot said, [Are] the hands of Zevach and Tzalmuna now in your hand, that we should give lechem to your army?
8:7 And Gid'on said, Therefore when ADONAI (יהוה) has delivered Zevach and Tzalmuna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
8:8 And he went up thence to Penuel, and spoke to them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Sukkot had answered [him].
8:9 And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in shalom, I will break down this tower.
8:10 Now Zevach and Tzalmuna [were] in Karkor, and their tze'vot with them, about fifteen thousand [men], all that were left of all the tze'vot of benai the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.
8:11 And Gid'on went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Yogbehah, and smote the tze'va (army): for the tze'va (army) was secure.
8:12 And when Zevach and Tzalmuna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two melakhim of Midyan, Zevach and Tzalmuna, and discomfited all the tze'va (army).
8:13 And Gid'on ben Yo'ash returned from battle before the sun [was up],
8:14 And caught a young man of the men of Sukkot, and enquired of him: and he described to him the sarim of Sukkot, and the zekenim thereof, [even] shibim (70) and seventeen men.
8:15 And he came to the men of Sukkot, and said, hinnei Zevach and Tzalmuna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, [Are] the hands of Zevach and Tzalmuna now in your hand, that we should give lechem to your men [that are] weary?
8:16 And he took the zekenim of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Sukkot.
8:17 And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.
8:18 Then said he to Zevach and Tzalmuna, What manner of men [were they] whom ye slew at Tavor? And they answered, As you [art], so [were] they; each one resembled benai a king.
8:19 And he said, They [were] my brethren, [even] the benai my mother: [as] ADONAI (יהוה) liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.
8:20 And he said to Yeter his firstborn, Up, [and] slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he [was] yet a youth.
8:21 Then Zevach and Tzalmuna said, Rise you, and fall upon us: for as the man [is, so is] his strength. And Gid'on arose, and slew Zevach and Tzalmuna, and took away the ornaments that [were] on their camels' necks.
8:22 Then the men of Yisrael said to Gid'on, Rule you over us, both you, and your son, and your son's son also: for you have delivered us from the yad Midyan.
8:23 And Gid'on said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: ADONAI (יהוה) shall rule over you.
8:24 And Gid'on said to them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they [were] Yishma'elim.)
8:25 And they answered, We will willingly give [them]. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.
8:26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that [was] on the melakhim of Midyan, and beside the chains that [were] about their camels' necks.
8:27 And Gid'on made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, [even] in Ofrah: and all Yisrael went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare to Gid'on, and to his house.
8:28 Thus was Midyan subdued before benai Yisrael, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness arba'im shanah in the days of Gid'on.
8:29 And Yeruba'al ben Yo'ash went and dwelt in his own house.
8:30 And Gid'on had shibim (70) benai his body begotten: for he had many wives.
8:31 And his concubine that [was] in Sh'khem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Avi-Melekh.
8:32 And Gid'on ben Yo'ash died in a good old age, and was buried in the kever Yo'ash his avi, in Ofrah of the Avi'ezrites.
Benai Yisrael turn to idolatry
8:33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gid'on was dead, that benai Yisrael turned again, and went a whoring after ba'alim, and made Ba'al-b'rit their god.
8:34 And benai Yisrael remembered not ADONAI (יהוה) their Elohim (אלהים), who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
8:35 Neither showed they kindness to the bayit Yeruba'al, [namely], Gid'on, according to all the goodness which he had showed to Yisrael.