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chapter 8
1
And
the men of Ephraim said to him: What is this that thou meanest to do, that thou
wouldst not call us when thou wentest to fight against Madian? and they chid
him sharply and almost offered violence.
2 And he answered them: What could I have done like to
that which you have done? Is not one bunch of grapes of Ephraim better than the
vintages of Abiezer?
3 The Lord hath delivered into your bands the princes
of Madian, Oreb and Zeb: what could I have done like to what you have done? And
when he had said this, their spirit was appeased, with which they swelled
against him.
4 And when Gedeon was come to the Jordan, he passed
over it with the three hundred men, that were with him: who were so weary that
they could not pursue after them that fled.
5 And he said to the men of Soccoth: Give, I beseech
you, bread to the people that is with me, for they are faint: that we may
pursue Zebee, and Salmana the kings of Madian.
6 The princes of Soccoth answered: Peradventure the
palms of the hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hand, and therefore thou
demandest that we should give bread to thy army.
7 And he said to them: When the Lord therefore shall
have delivered Zebee and Salmana into my hands, I will thresh your flesh with
the thorns and briers of the desert.
8 And going up from thence, he came to Phanuel: and he
spoke the like things to the men of that place. And they also answered him, as
the men of Soccoth had answered.
9 He said therefore to them also: When I shall return a
conqueror in peace, I will destroy this tower.
10 But Zebee and Salmana were resting with all their
army. For fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern
people, and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword, were
slain.
11 And Gedeon went up by the way of them that dwelt in
tents, on the east of Nobe and Jegbaa, and smote the camp of the enemies, who
were secure, and suspected no hurt.
12 And Zebee and Salmana fled, and Gedeon pursued and
took them, all their host being put in confusion.
13 And returning from the battle before the sun rising,
14 He took a boy of the men of Soccoth: and he asked
him the names of the princes and ancients of Soccoth, and he described unto him
seventy-seven men.
15 And he came to Soccoth and said to them: Behold
Zebee and Salmana, concerning whom you upbraided me, saying: Peradventure the
hands of Zebee and Salmana, are in thy hands, and therefore thou demandest that
we should give bread to the men that are weary and faint.
16 So he took the ancients of the city and thorns and
briers of the desert, and tore them with the same, and cut in pieces the men of
Soccoth.
17 And he demolished the tower of Phanuel, and slew the
men of the city.
18 And he said to Zebee and Salmana: What manner of men
were they whom you slew in Thabor? They answered: They were like thee, and one
of them as the son of a king.
19 He answered them: They were my brethren, the sons of
my mother. As the Lord liveth, if you had saved them, I would not kill you.
20 And he said to Jether his eldest son: Arise, and
slay them. But he drew not his sword: for he was afraid, being but yet a boy.
21 And Zebee and Salmana said: Do thou rise, and run
upon us: because the strength of a man is according to his age: Gedeon rose up
and slew Zebee and Salmana: and he took the ornaments and bosses, with which
the necks of the camels of kings are wont to be adorned.
22 And all the men of Israel said to Gedeon: Rule thou
over us and thy son, and thy son's son: because thou hast delivered us from the
hand of Madian.
23 And he said to them: I will not rule over you,
neither shall my son rule over you, but the Lord shall rule over you.
24 And he said to them: I desire one request of you:
Give me the earlets of your spoils. For the Ismaelites were accustomed to wear
golden earlets.
25 They answered: We will give them most willingly. And
spreading a mantle on the ground, they cast upon it the earlets of the spoils.
26 And the weight of the earlets that he requested, was
a thousand seven hundred sicles of gold, besides the ornaments, and jewels, and
purple raiment which the kings of Madian were went to use, and besides the
golden chains that were about the camels' necks.
27 And Gedeon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his
city Ephra. And all Israel committed fornication with it, and it became a ruin
to Gedeon and to all his house.
28 But Madian was humbled before the children of
Israel, neither could they any more lift up their beads: but the land rested
for forty years, while Gedeon presided.
29 So Jerobaal the son of Joas went, and dwelt in his
own house.
30 And he had seventy sons, who came out of his thigh,
for he had many wives.
31 And his concubine, that he had in Sichem, bore him a
son, whose name was Abimelech.
32 And Gedeon the son of Joas died in a good old age,
and was buried in the sepulchre of his father in Ephra of the family of Ezri.
33 But after Gedeon was dead, the children of Israel
turned again, and committed fornication with Baalim. And they made a covenant
with Baal, that he should be their god:
34 And they remembered not the Lord their God, who
delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies round about:
35 Neither did they shew mercy to the house of Jerobaal
Gedeon, according to all the good things he had done to Israel.
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