The Judges & Ruth

And he taketh the elders of the city, and the thorns of the wilderness, and the threshing instruments, and teacheth by them the men of Succoth,

and the tower of Penuel he hath broken down, and slayeth the men of the city.

And he saith unto Zebah and unto Zalmunna, `How--the men whom ye slew in Tabor?' and they say, `As thou--so they, one--as the form of the king's sons.'

And he saith, `My brethren--sons of my mother--they; Jehovah liveth, if ye had kept them alive--I had not slain you.'

And he saith to Jether his first-born, `Rise, slay them;' and the young man hath not drawn his sword, for he hath been afraid, for he is yet a youth.

And Zebah saith--also Zalmunna--`Rise thou, and fall upon us; for as the man--his might;' and Gideon riseth, and slayeth Zebah and Zalmunna, and taketh their round ornaments which are on the necks of their camels.

And the men of Israel say unto Gideon, `Rule over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, for thou hast saved us from the hand of Midian.'

And Gideon saith unto them, `I do not rule over you, nor doth my son rule over you; Jehovah doth rule over you.'

And Gideon saith unto them, `Let me ask of you a petition, and give ye to me each the ring of his prey, for they have rings of gold, for they are Ishmaelites.'

And they say, `We certainly give;' and they spread out the garment, and cast thither each the ring of his prey;

and the weight of the rings of gold which he asked is a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the round ornaments, and the drops, and the purple garments, which are on the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains which are on the necks of their camels,

and Gideon maketh it into an ephod, and setteth it up in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel go a-whoring after it there, and it is to Gideon and to his house for a snare.

And Midian is humbled before the sons of Israel, and have not added to lift up their head; and the land resteth forty years in the days of Gideon.

And Jerubbaal son of Joash goeth and dwelleth in his own house,

and to Gideon there have been seventy sons, coming out of his loin, for he had many wives;

and his concubine, who is in Shechem, hath born to him--even she--a son, and he appointeth his name Abimelech.

And Gideon son of Joash dieth, in a good old age, and is buried in the burying-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-Ezrite.

And it cometh to pass, when Gideon is dead, that the sons of Israel turn back and go a-whoring after the Baalim, and set over them Baal-Berith for a god;

and the sons of Israel have not remembered Jehovah their God, who is delivering them out of the hand of all their enemies round about,

neither have they done kindness with the house of Jerubbaal--Gideon--according to all the good which he did with Israel.

and Abimelech son of Jerubbaal goeth to Shechem, unto his mother's brethren, and speaketh unto them, and unto all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

`Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the masters of Shechem, Which is good for you--the ruling over you of seventy men (all the sons of Jerubbaal), or the ruling over you of one man? --and ye have remembered that I am your bone and your flesh.'

And his mother's brethren speak concerning him, in the ears of all the masters of Shechem, all these words, and their heart inclineth after Abimelech, for they said, `He is our brother;'

and they give to him seventy silverings out of the house of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech hireth with them men, vain and unstable, and they go after him;

and he goeth into the house of his father at Ophrah, and slayeth his brethren, sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone; and Jotham, youngest son of Jerubbaal, is left, for he was hidden.