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.
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?
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.
4 Then Gideon came to Jordan and went over it with his three hundred, overcome with weariness and in need of food.
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.
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?
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.
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.
9 So he said to the men of Penuel, When I come back in peace, I will have this tower broken down.
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.
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.
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.
13 Then Gideon, the son of Joash, went back from the fight:
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.
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?
16 Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems.
17 And he had the tower of Penuel broken down and the men of the town put to death.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
29 And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went back to his house and was living there.
30 Gideon had seventy sons, the offspring of his body; for he had a number of wives.
31 And the servant-wife he had in Shechem had a son by him, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.
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.
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.
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;
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.
1 Muži pak Efraim řekli jemu: Co jsi nám to učinil, že jsi nepovolal nás, když jsi táhl k boji proti Madianským? A tuze se na něj domlouvali.
2 Jimž odpověděl: Zdaž jsem co takového provedl, jako vy? Zdaliž není lepší paběrování Efraimovo, než vinobraní Abiezerovo?
3 V ruce vaše dal Bůh knížata Madianská Goréba a Zéba, a co jsem já mohl takového učiniti, jako vy? I spokojil se duch jejich k němu, když mluvil ta slova.
4 Když pak přišel Gedeon k Jordánu, přešel jej, a tři sta mužů, kteříž byli s ním, ustalí, honíce nepřátely.
5 Protož řekl mužům Sochot: Dejte, prosím, po pecníku chleba lidu, kterýž za mnou jde, nebo ustali, a já honím Zebaha a Salmuna, krále ty Madianské.
6 I řekl jemu jeden z knížat Sochot: Což již moc Zebahova a Salmunova jest v ruce tvé, abychom dali vojsku tvému chleba?
7 Jimž řekl Gedeon: Z té příčiny, když dá Hospodin Zebaha a Salmuna v ruku mou, tehdy zmrskám těla vaše trním a bodláčím z pouště té.
8 I táhl odtud do Fanuel, a podobně mluvil k nim, ale obyvatelé Fanuel odpověděli jemu tolikéž, jako muži Sochot.
9 I řekl obyvatelům Fanuel: Když se navrátím v pokoji, zbořím věži tuto.
10 Zebah pak a Salmun byli v Karkara spolu s vojsky svými, takměř patnácte tisíců, všickni, což jich bylo pozůstalo ze všeho vojska národů východních, zbitých pak bylo sto a dvadceti tisíc mužů bojovníků.
11 I táhna Gedeon cestou bydlících v staních od východní strany Nobe a Jegbaa, udeřil na to vojsko, kteréžto vojsko sobě počínalo bezpečně.
12 Když pak utíkali Zebah a Salmun, honil je, a jal oba dva ty krále Madianské, Zebaha a Salmuna, a všecko vojsko jejich předěsil.
13 I navracel se Gedeon syn Joasův z bitvy před východem slunce.
14 I jav mládence z obyvatelů Sochotských, vyptával se ho; kterýž sepsal mu knížata Sochot a starší jeho, sedmdesáte sedm mužů.
15 Přišed pak k obyvatelům Sochot, řekl: Aj, Zebah a Salmun, pro něž jste mi utrhali, řkouce: Zdali moc Zebaha a Salmuna jest v ruce tvé, abychom dali ustalým mužům tvým chleba?
16 Protož vzav starší města a trní s bodláčím z pouště té, dal na nich příklad jiným mužům Sochot.
17 I věži Fanuel rozbořil, a pobil muže města.
18 Potom řekl Zebahovi a Salmunovi: Jací to byli muži, kteréž jste pobili na hoře Tábor? Odpověděli oni: Takoví jako ty, jeden každý na pohledění byl jako syn královský.
19 I dí: Bratří moji, synové matky mé byli. Živť jest Hospodin, byste byli živili je, nepobil bych vás.
20 Tedy řekl k Jeter prvorozenému svému: Vstaň, pobí je. Ale mládenček nevytáhl meče svého, proto že se bál, nebo byl ještě mládenček.
21 I řekl Zebah a Salmun: Vstaň ty a oboř se na nás, nebo jaký jest muž, taková i síla jeho. Vstav tedy Gedeon, zabil Zebaha a Salmuna, a vzal halže, kteréž byly na hrdlech velbloudů jejich.
22 Potom řekli muži Izraelští Gedeonovi: Panuj nad námi i ty i syn tvůj, také syn syna tvého, nebo vysvobodil jsi nás z ruky Madianských.
23 I odpověděl jim Gedeon: Nebuduť já panovati nad vámi, aniž panovati bude nad vámi syn můj, Hospodin panovati bude nad vámi.
24 Řekl jim také Gedeon: Žádost tuto vzložím toliko na vás, abyste mi dali jeden každý náušnici z loupeží svých; (nebo náušnice zlaté měli, proto že Izmaelitští byli.)
25 I odpověděli: Rádi dáme. A prostřevše roucho, metali na ně každý náušnici z loupeží svých.
26 Byla pak váha náušnic zlatých, kteréž vyžádal, tisíc a sedm set lotů zlata, kromě halží a zlatých jableček, i roucha šarlatového, kteréž na sobě měli králové Madianští, a kromě halží, kteréž byly na hrdlech velbloudů jejich.
27 I udělal z toho Gedeon efod, a složil jej v městě svém Ofra. I smilnil tam všecken Izrael, chodě za ním, a byl Gedeonovi i domu jeho osídlem.
28 Madianští pak sníženi jsou před syny Izraelskými, aniž potom pozdvihli hlavy své; a tak byla v pokoji země za čtyřidceti let ve dnech Gedeonových.
29 A odšed Jerobál syn Joasův, přebýval v domě svém.
30 Měl pak Gedeon sedmdesáte synů, kteříž pošli z bedr jeho; nebo měl žen mnoho.
31 Ženina také jeho, kterouž měl v Sichem, i ta porodila jemu syna, a dala mu jméno Abimelech.
32 A když umřel Gedeon syn Joasův v starosti dobré, pochován jest v hrobě Joasa otce svého v Ofra Abiezeritského.
33 Stalo se pak po smrti Gedeonově, že se odvrátili synové Izraelští a smilnili, jdouce za modlami, a vzali sobě Bále Berit za boha.
34 A nerozpomenuli se synové Izraelští na Hospodina Boha svého, kterýž je vytrhl z ruky všech nepřátel jejich vůkol.
35 A neučinili milosrdenství s domem Jerobále Gedeona, jako on všecko dobré činil Izraelovi.