Judges 8:1-9 ▼

1 But the Ephraimites said to him, “What have you done to us, not summoning us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they quarreled bitterly with him.

2 But he answered them, “What have I done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

3 It was into your power God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

4 When Gideon reached the Jordan and crossed it, he and his three hundred men were exhausted and famished.

5 So he said to the people of Succoth, “Will you give my followers some loaves of bread? They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”

6 But the princes of Succoth replied, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your army?”

7 Gideon said, “Very well; when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I will thrash your bodies with desert thorns and briers.”

8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request of them, but the people of Penuel answered him as had the people of Succoth.

9 So to the people of Penuel, too, he said, “When I return in peace, I will demolish this tower.”