Judges / Gideon's Pursuit and Execution of the Midianite Kings

Gideon's Pursuit and Execution of the Midianite Kings

Judges 8:1-21

Chapter 8

¹ And the men of Ephraim said to him, "What is this thing you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight Midian?" And they contended with him strongly. ² He said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?" ³ God gave the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hand, and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their spirit relaxed from upon him when he spoke this word. ⁴ Gideon came to the Jordan, crossed it, he and the three hundred men who were with him, weary and pursuing. ⁵ He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian." ⁶ And the chiefs of Succoth said, "The palm of Zebah and Zalmunna: now in your hand, for he has given your host bread." ⁷ Gideon said, "Therefore, when the LORD gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and the briers." ⁸ And he went up from there to Peniel and spoke to them in this way, and the men of Peniel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ He also said to the men of Peniel, "When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower." ¹⁰ Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their camps, about fifty thousand, all the remnant of the camp of the sons of the east. The fallen numbered a hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword. ¹¹ And Gideon went up by the way of those who dwell in tents east of Nobah, and he went up and struck the camp, and the camp was secure. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them, captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and all the camp panicked. ¹³ Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle above the Char es. ¹⁴ He captured a youth from the men of Succoth and questioned him. The youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders—seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ He came to the men of Succoth and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, 'Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that you should demand bread for your weary men?'" ¹⁶ He took the elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briers and taught the men of Succoth a lesson with them. ¹⁷ He tore down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the city. ¹⁸ And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?" And they said, "Like you, like them; one like the form of the king's sons." ¹⁹ He said, "They were my brothers, sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if you had spared them, I would not kill you." ²⁰ And he said to Jether his firstborn, "Rise, kill them." But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a boy. ²¹ And Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise, you, and fall upon us, for as a man, his sound of war." And Gideon rose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.