The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 And the men of Ephraim came and said to him, Why did you not send for us when you went to war against Midian? And they said sharp and angry words to him.
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And the Ish Ephrayim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with Midyan? And they did criticize him sharply.
2 And he said to them, What have I done in comparison with you? Is not that which Ephraim took up after the grape-cutting better than all the grapes which Abiezer got in from the grape-cutting?
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And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephrayim tov (better) than the vintage of Aviezer?
3 God has given into your hands the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you? And when he said this, their feeling about him became kinder.
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Elohim hath delivered into your hands the sarim of Midyan, Orev and Ze’ev; and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
4 Then Gideon came to Jordan and went over it with his three hundred, overcome with weariness and in need of food.
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And Gid’on came to the Yarden, and passed over, he, and the three hundred haIsh that were with him, exhausted yet pursuing them.
5 And he said to the men of Succoth, Give bread cakes to my people, for they are overcome with weariness, and I am going on after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.
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And he said unto the Anshei Sukkot, Give, now, loaves of lechem unto the people that follow me; for they be exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zevach and Tzalmunna, melachim of Midyan.
6 But the chiefs of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand that we are to give bread to your army?
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And the sarei Sukkot said, Are the hands of Zevach and Tzalmunna now in thine yad, that we should give lechem unto thine tz’va (army)?
7 Then Gideon said, Because of this, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will have you stretched on a bed of thorns of the waste land and on sharp stems, and have you crushed as grain is crushed on a grain-floor.
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And Gid’on said, Therefore when Hashem hath delivered Zevach and Tzalmunna into mine yad, then I will tear your basar with the kotz (thorns) of the midbar and with briers.
8 So he went up from there to Penuel and made the same request to the men of Penuel; but they gave him the same answer as the men of Succoth had given.
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And he went up from there to Penuel [Peniel], and spoke unto them likewise; and the Anshei Penuel [Peniel] answered him as the men of Sukkot had answered him.
9 So he said to the men of Penuel, When I come back in peace, I will have this tower broken down.
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And he spoke also unto the Anshei Penuel, saying, When I come again in shalom, I will break down this migdal.
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, those of all the army of the children of the east who were still living; for a hundred and twenty thousand of their swordsmen had been put to death.
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Now Zevach and Tzalmunna were in Karkor, and their machaneh with them, about 15,000, all that were left of all the machaneh of the Bnei Kedem; for there fell a 120,000 Ish that drew the cherev.
11 And Gideon went up by the way used by the people living in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and made an attack on the army when they had no thought of danger.
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And Gid’on went up by the derech of them that dwelt in ohalim on the east of Novach and Yogbehah, and struck down the machaneh; for the machaneh was unsuspecting, thinking themselves secure.
12 And Zebah and Zalmunna went in flight; and he went after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and put all the army to the curse.
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And when Zevach and Tzalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two melachim of Midyan, Zevach and Tzalmunna, and did rout all the machaneh.
13 Then Gideon, the son of Joash, went back from the fight:
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And Gid’on ben Yoash returned from milchamah by the Cheres Pass,
14 And taking prisoner a young man of the people of Succoth, he got from him, in answer to his questions, a list of the chiefs of Succoth and the responsible men, seventy-seven men.
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And caught a na’ar of the Anshei Sukkot, and inquired of him; and he wrote down for him the sarim of Sukkot, and the zekenim thereof, even threescore and seventeen ish.
15 So he came to the men of Succoth and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, on account of whom you made sport of me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand, that we are to give bread to your army who are overcome with weariness?
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And he came unto the Anshei Sukkot, and said, Hinei, Zevach and Tzalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zevach and Tzalmunna now in thine yad, that we should give lechem unto thy anashim that are exhausted?
16 Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems.
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And he took the zekenim of the Ir, kotz of the midbar and briers, and with them he taught the Anashim of Sukkot.
17 And he had the tower of Penuel broken down and the men of the town put to death.
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And he pulled down the migdal of Penuel [Peniel], and put to death the Anshei HaIr.
18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, Where are the men whom you put to death at Tabor? And they gave answer, As you are, so were they; every one of them was like a king's son.
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Then said he unto Zevach and Tzalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slaughtered at Tavor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one with the bearing of Bnei HaMelech.
19 And he said, They were my brothers, my mother's sons: by the life of the Lord, if you had kept them safe, I would not put you to death.
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And he said, They were my brethren, even the Bnei Immi; as Hashem liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I should not have put you to death.
20 Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, Up! Put them to death. But the boy did not take out his sword, fearing because he was still a boy.
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And he said unto Yeter his bechor, Up, and slay them. But the na’ar (youth) drew not his cherev; for he feared, because he was yet a na’ar.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Up! Put an end to us yourself: for you have a man's strength. Then Gideon got up and put Zebah and Zalmunna to death and took the ornaments which were on their camels' necks.
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Then Zevach and Tzalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us; for as the ish is, so is his gevurah. And Gid’on arose, and put to death Zevach and Tzalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Be our ruler, you and your son and your son's son after him; for you have been our saviour from the hands of Midian.
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Then the Ish Yisroel said unto Gid’on, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy ben, and the ben of thy ben also; for thou hast delivered us from the yad Midyan.
23 But Gideon said to them, I will not be a ruler over you, and my son will not be a ruler over you: it is the Lord who will be ruler over you.
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And Gid’on said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall beni rule over you; Hashem shall rule over you.
24 Then Gideon said to them, I have a request to make to you; let every man give me the ear-rings he has taken. (For they had gold ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
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And Gid’on said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every ish the nezem (earring) of his booty—for they had nizmei zahav (gold earrings), because they were Yishmaelim [descendents of Ishmael].
25 And they gave answer, We will gladly give them. So they put down a robe, every man dropping into it the ear-rings he had taken.
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And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread out a simlah (upper garment), and did cast therein every ish the nezem of his booty.
26 The weight of the gold ear-rings which he got from them was one thousand, seven hundred shekels of gold; in addition to the moon-ornaments and jewels and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and the chains on their camels' necks.
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And the weight of the nizmei hazahav that he requested was 1,700 shekels of zahav; beside ornaments, and pendants, and purple raiment that was on the melachim of Midyan, and apart from the chains that were about their camels’ necks.
27 And Gideon made an ephod from them and put it up in his town Ophrah; and all Israel went after it there and were false to the Lord; and it became a cause of sin to Gideon and his house.
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And Gid’on made an ephod thereof, and put it in his Ir, even in Ophrah; and kol Yisroel went there a-whoring after it; which thing became a mokesh (snare) unto Gid’on, and to his Bais.
28 So Midian was broken before the children of Israel and the Midianites never got back their strength. And the land had peace for forty years, in the days of Gideon.
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Thus was Midyan subdued before the Bnei Yisroel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And HaAretz was in quietness arba’im shanah in the days of Gid’on.
29 And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went back to his house and was living there.
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And Yerubaal ben Yoash went and dwelt in his own bais.
30 Gideon had seventy sons, the offspring of his body; for he had a number of wives.
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And Gid’on had threescore and ten banim of his own; for he had many nashim.
31 And the servant-wife he had in Shechem had a son by him, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.
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And his pilegesh (concubine) that was in Shechem, she also bore him a ben, whose shem he called Avimelech.
32 And Gideon, the son of Joash, came to his end when he was very old, and his body was put in the resting-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
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And Gid’on ben Yoash died in a good old age, and was buried in the kever of Yoash his av, in Ophrah of the Aviezri.
33 And after the death of Gideon, the children of Israel again went after the gods of Canaan and were false to the Lord, and made Baal-berith their god.
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And it came to pass, as soon as Gid’on was dead, that the Bnei Yisroel turned again, and went a-whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-brit their elohim.
34 And the children of Israel did not keep in their minds the Lord their God, who had been their saviour from all their haters on every side;
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And the Bnei Yisroel remembered not Hashem Eloheihem, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side;
35 And they were not kind to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in reward for all the good he had done to Israel.
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Neither showed they chesed to the Bais Yerubaal, namely, Gid’on, according to all the tovah which he had showed unto Yisroel.
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The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.