Gideon's Pursuit and Execution of the Midianite Kings
Judges 8:1-21
1And the men of Ephraim said to him, "What is this thing that you have done to us? Why did you not call us when you went to fight against Midian?" And they contended with him forcefully.2And he said to them, "What have I done now compared with you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?"3God gave the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hands. What was I able to do compared with you? Then their spirit subsided toward him when he spoke this word.4And Gideon came to the Jordan. He and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted yet pursuing.5And he said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."6And the officials of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?"7And Gideon said, "Therefore, when the LORD gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with thorns of the wilderness and with briers."8And he went up from there to Peniel and spoke to them in the same way, but the men of Peniel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.9And he also said to the men of Peniel, "When I return safely I will tear down this tower."10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their camp, about fifteen thousand men, all who remained of the entire camp of the people of the East; and one hundred twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen.11And Gideon went up by the route of those who dwell in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the camp while the camp was unsuspecting.12And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and the whole camp was terrified.13And Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle at the ascent of the sun.14And he captured a young man from Succoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the officials of Succoth and its seventy-seven elders.15And he came to the men of Succoth and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your exhausted men?'"16And he took the elders of the city along with thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he punished the men of Succoth with them.17And he tore down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the city.18And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "Where are the men whom you killed at Mount Tabor?" And they answered, "They were like you; each one resembled the sons of a king."19And he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not have killed you."20And he said to Jether his firstborn son, "Rise and kill them." But the young man did not draw his sword, because he was afraid, since he was still young.21And Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as is the man, so is his strength." So Gideon rose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.