e horde into a panic.

When Gideon returned from the battle, he captured a young man who lived
at Succoth. At Gideon's request he wrote down for him the names of the
rulers of Succoth and its leading men. There were seventy-seven in all.
When Gideon came to the men of Succoth, he said, "See, here are Zebah
and Zalmunna about whom you mocked me, saying, 'Are Zebah and Zalmunna
already in your power that we should give bread to your men who are
weary?'" Then he took desert thorns and briers, and with these he
thrashed the leading men of Succoth. He also broke down the tower of
Penuel and put to death the men of the town.

Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were those
whom you killed at Tabor?" They replied, "They were just like you; each
of them looked like a prince." Gideon said, "They were my own brothers,
the sons of my mother. As surely as Jehovah lives, if you had saved them
alive, I would not kill you now."

Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, "Up and kill them." But the boy
did not draw his sword, because he was afraid, for he was only a boy.
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Get up yourself and fall upon us; for a
man has a man's strength!" So Gideon rose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna,
and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks.

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, and not only you
but your son and your son's son after you, for you have saved us from
the power of the Midianites." Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over
you, nor shall my son rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you; but
let me make one request of you: let every man give me the ear-rings from
his spoil" (for they had golden ear-rings, because they were desert
dwellers). They answered, "Certainly, we will give them." So they spread
out a blanket and each man threw into it the ear-rings from his spoil.
The weight of the golden ear-rings for which he had asked was nearly
seventy pounds of gold. Then Gideon made of the gold a priestly robe to
wear when asking questions of Jehovah, and placed it in his own city,
Ophrah.

Gideon died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash, his
father, in Ophrah of the Abiezerites.

JEPHTHAH'S FOOLISH PROMISE

Jephthah, the Gileadite, was an able warrior, but he was the son of a
wicked woman, and had fled from his relatives and lived in the land of
Tob. There certain rascals gathered about him, and they used to go out
on raids with him.