1And the men (ish) of Ephraim said to him, "What is this thing you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?" And they contended with him sharply.
2And he said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3Into your hand God gave the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do compared to you?" Then their spirit (ruach) slackened from upon him when he spoke this word.
4And Gideon came to the Jordan, passing over, he and the three hundred men (ish) who were with him, faint yet pursuing.
5And he said to the men (ish) of Succoth, "Give, please, loaves of bread to the people who are at my feet, for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."
6And the princes of Succoth said, "Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?"
7And Gideon said, "Therefore, when YHWH gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will thresh your flesh (basar) with the thorns of the wilderness and with the briers."
8And he went up from there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner; and the men (ish) of Penuel answered him as the men (ish) of Succoth had answered.
9And he spoke also to the men (ish) of Penuel, saying, "When I return in peace, I will break down this tower."
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of all the camp of the sons of the east; and those who had fallen were a hundred and twenty thousand men (ish) drawing the sword.
11And Gideon went up by the way of those who dwell in tents, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he smote the camp, for the camp was secure.
12And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them, and he captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and all the camp he made tremble.
13And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres.
14And he caught a young man of the men (ish) of Succoth, and inquired of him; and he wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men (ish).
15And he came to the men (ish) of Succoth, and said, "Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying: Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your weary men (ish)?"
16And he took the elders of the city, and the thorns of the wilderness and the briers, and with them he made the men (ish) of Succoth to know.
17And the tower of Penuel he broke down, and he killed the men (ish) of the city.
18And he said to Zebah and to Zalmunna, "Where are the men (ish) whom you killed at Tabor?" And they said, "As you, so were they, each one like the form of the sons of the king."
19And he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother; as YHWH lives (chai), if you had let them live, I would not kill you."
20And he said to Jether his firstborn, "Arise, kill them." But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.
21And Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Arise yourself, and fall upon us, for as the man (ish) is, so is his strength." And Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.
22And the men (ish) of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your son and your son's son also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian."
23And Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; YHWH shall rule over you."
24And Gideon said to them, "Let me ask a request of you: give me, each man (ish), the nose-ring of his spoil." (For they had golden nose-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25And they said, "We will surely give them." And they spread out the garment, and threw there, each man (ish), the nose-ring of his spoil.
26And the weight of the golden nose-rings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred of gold, apart from the crescents and the pendants and the purple garments that were on the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains that were on the necks of their camels.
27And Gideon made it into an ephod, and set it up in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel went whoring after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.
28And Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their head again; and the land was quiet forty years in the days of Gideon.
29And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his house.
30And Gideon had seventy sons coming out of his thigh, for he had many wives (ishah).
31And his concubine who was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, and he set his name Abimelech.
32And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrite.
33And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel turned back and went whoring after the Baals, and they made Baal-berith their god.
34And the sons of Israel did not remember YHWH their God, who delivered them from the hand of all their enemies all around;
35and they did not do kindness with the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, according to all the goodness that he did with Israel.