The Offer of Kingship and the Ephod

22

The men of Isra'el said to Gid'on: "Rule over us, you, your son and your grandson, because you saved us from the power of Midyan.

23

Gid'on replied, "Neither I nor my son will rule over you; ADONAI will rule over you."

24

Then he added, "But I have this request to make of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from the booty you have taken." For the enemy soldiers had worn gold earrings, like all the other tribes descended from Yishma'el.

25

They replied, "We're glad to give them to you." They spread out a robe, and each man threw in the earrings from his booty.

26

The gold earrings he requested weighed more than forty-two pounds; and this doesn't include the crescents, pendants and purple cloth worn by the kings of Midyan and the chains around their camels' necks.

27

Out of these things Gid'on made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, 'Ofrah. But all Isra'el turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gid'on and his family.

28

This is how Midyan was defeated by Isra'el, so that they ceased to be a threat. The land had rest forty years during the lifetime of Gid'on;

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