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Judges 8 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Gideon Kills Zebah and Zalmunna

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:1

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:1 - Then the people of Ephraim asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us this way? Why didn’t you send for us when you first went out to fight the Midianites?” And they argued heatedly with Gideon.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:2

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:2 - But Gideon replied, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t even the leftover grapes of Ephraim’s harvest better than the entire crop of my little clan of Abiezer?

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:3

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:3 - God gave you victory over Oreb and Zeeb, the commanders of the Midianite army. What have I accomplished compared to that?” When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon’s answer, their anger subsided.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:4

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:4 - Gideon then crossed the Jordan River with his 300 men, and though exhausted, they continued to chase the enemy.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:5

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:5 - When they reached Succoth, Gideon asked the leaders of the town, “Please give my warriors some food. They are very tired. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:6

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:6 - But the officials of Succoth replied, “Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your army.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:7

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:7 - So Gideon said, “After the LORD gives me victory over Zebah and Zalmunna, I will return and tear your flesh with the thorns and briers from the wilderness.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:8 - From there Gideon went up to Peniel[fn] and again asked for food, but he got the same answer.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:9

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:9 - So he said to the people of Peniel, “After I return in victory, I will tear down this tower.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:10

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:10 - By this time Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with 15,000 warriors—all that remained of the allied armies of the east, for 120,000 had already been killed.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:11

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:11 - Gideon circled around by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, taking the Midianite army by surprise.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:12

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:12 - Zebah and Zalmunna, the two Midianite kings, fled, but Gideon chased them down and captured all their warriors.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:13

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:13 - After this, Gideon returned from the battle by way of Heres Pass.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:14

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:14 - There he captured a young man from Succoth and demanded that he write down the names of all the seventy-seven officials and elders in the town.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:15

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:15 - Gideon then returned to Succoth and said to the leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you taunted me, saying, ‘Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your exhausted army.’”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:16

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:16 - Then Gideon took the elders of the town and taught them a lesson, punishing them with thorns and briers from the wilderness.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:17

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:17 - He also tore down the tower of Peniel and killed all the men in the town.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:18

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:18 - Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed at Tabor—what were they like?”
“Like you,” they replied. “They all had the look of a king’s son.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:19

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:19 - “They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother!” Gideon exclaimed. “As surely as the LORD lives, I wouldn’t kill you if you hadn’t killed them.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:20

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:20 - Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, for he was only a boy and was afraid.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:21

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:21 - Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Be a man! Kill us yourself!” So Gideon killed them both and took the royal ornaments from the necks of their camels.
Gideon’s Sacred Ephod

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:22

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:22 - Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:23

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:23 - But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD will rule over you!

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:24

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:24 - However, I do have one request—that each of you give me an earring from the plunder you collected from your fallen enemies.” (The enemies, being Ishmaelites, all wore gold earrings.)

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:25

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:25 - “Gladly!” they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered from the plunder.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:26

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:26 - The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds,[fn] not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:27

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:27 - Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:28

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:28 - That is the story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:29

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:29 - Then Gideon[fn] son of Joash returned home.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:30

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:30 - He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:31

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:31 - He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:32

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:32 - Gideon died when he was very old, and he was buried in the grave of his father, Joash, at Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:33

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:33 - As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:34

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:34 - They forgot the LORD their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 8:35

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 8:35 - Nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon), despite all the good he had done for Israel.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew Penuel, a variant spelling of Peniel; also in 8:9, 17.
Hebrew 1,700 shekels [19.4 kilograms].
Hebrew Jerub-baal; see 6:32.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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Judges Chapter 8 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras