Shophetim (Judges) 8
8
1And the men of Ephrayim said to him, “What is this you have done to us by not calling us when you went to fight with Miḏyan?” And they contended with him sharply,
2and he said to them, “What have I done as compared with you? Are the gleanings of Ephrayim not better than the grape harvest of Aḇi‛ezer?
3“Elohim has given into your hands the princes of Miḏyan, Orĕḇ and Ze’ĕḇ. And what was I able to do as compared with you?” And when he had said that their rage toward him subsided.
4And Giḏ‛on and the three hundred men who were with him came to the Yardĕn, passing over, weary yet pursuing.
5And he said to the men of Sukkoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna, sovereigns of Miḏyan.”
6But the leaders of Sukkoth said, “Are the hands of Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
7And Giḏ‛on said, “Because of this, when יהוה has given Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna into my hand, I shall tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers!”
8And he went up from there to Penu’ĕl and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penu’ĕl answered him as the men of Sukkoth had answered him.
9So he spoke also to the men of Penu’ĕl, saying, “When I come back in peace I shall break down this tower!”
10And Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna were at Qarqor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East. Now those who had already fallen were one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword.
11And Giḏ‛on went up by the way of those who dwell in tents on the east of Noḇaḥ and Yoḡbehah. And he struck the camp while the camp was at ease.
12And Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna fled, and he pursued them, and captured the two sovereigns of Miḏyan, Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna, and shuddered the entire army.
13And Giḏ‛on son of Yo’ash returned from battle, from the Ascent of Ḥeres,
14and captured a youth of the men of Sukkoth and questioned him. So the youth wrote down for him the leaders of Sukkoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.
15And he came to the men of Sukkoth and said, “See: Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’ ”
16And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson.
17And he broke down the tower of Penu’ĕl and killed the men of the city.
18And he said to Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna, “How were the men whom you killed at Taḇor?” So they answered, “They were like you, each one looked like the son of a sovereign.”
19And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As יהוה lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
20And he said to Yether his first-born, “Rise, kill them!” But the youth would not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.
21Then Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna said, “Rise yourself, and fall on us. For as a man is, so is his might.” So Giḏ‛on arose and killed Zeḇaḥ and Tsalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments which were on their camels’ necks.
22So the men of Yisra’ĕl said to Giḏ‛on, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have saved us from the hand of Miḏyan.”
23But Giḏ‛on said to them, “I do not rule over you, nor does my son rule over you. יהוה does rule over you.”
24And Giḏ‛on said to them, “I have a request to make of you, that each of you give me the ring from his spoil.” For they had rings of gold, because they were Yishma‛ĕlites.
25And they said, “We shall certainly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the ring from his spoil.
26And the weight of the gold rings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred pieces of gold – besides the crescent ornaments, and the pendants, and purple robes which were on the sovereigns of Miḏyan, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks.
27And Giḏ‛on made it into a shoulder garment and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Yisra’ĕl went whoring after it there. And it became a snare to Giḏ‛on and to his house.
28Thus Miḏyan was humbled before the children of Yisra’ĕl, and they lifted their heads no more. And the land had rest for forty years in the days of Giḏ‛on.
29And Yerubba‛al son of Yo’ash went and dwelt in his own house.
30And Giḏ‛on had seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives.
31And his concubine who was in Sheḵem also bore him a son, and he gave him the name Aḇimeleḵ.
32And Giḏ‛on son of Yo’ash died at a good old age, and was buried in the burial-site of Yo’ash his father, in Ophrah of the Aḇi‛ezerites.
33And it came to be, when Giḏ‛on was dead, that the children of Yisra’ĕl again went whoring after the Ba‛als, and made Ba‛al-Berith their mighty one.
34Thus the children of Yisra’ĕl did not remember יהוה their Elohim, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies round about,
35nor did they show loving-commitment to the house of Yerubba‛al, Giḏ‛on, according to all the good which he did for Yisra’ĕl.
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Shophetim (Judges) 8: TS2009
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