18
Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "Where are the men whom you killed at
1Tabor?" They answered, "As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king."
19
And he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother.
2As the LORD lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you."
20
So he said to Jether his firstborn, "Rise and kill them!" But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man.
21
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength." And Gideon arose and
3killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took
4the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
Gideon's Ephod
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian."
23
Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you;
5the LORD will rule over you."
24
And Gideon said to them, "Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil." (For they had golden earrings,
6because they were Ishmaelites.)
25
And they answered, "We will willingly give them." And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil.
26
And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides
7the crescent ornaments and
8the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.
27
And Gideon
9made an ephod of it and put it in his city,
10in Ophrah. And all Israel
11whored after it there, and it became a
12snare to Gideon and to his family.
28
So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more.
13And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.