19. “They were my very own brothers!” Gideon said. “I swear by the living Lord that if you had let them live, I would let you live.”
20. Gideon turned to Jether, his eldest son. “Kill them!” Gideon said.But Jether was young, and he was too afraid even to pull out his sword.
21. “What's the matter, Gideon?” Zebah and Zalmunna asked. “Do it yourself, if you're not too much of a coward!”Gideon jumped up and killed them both. Then he took the fine gold ornaments from the necks of their camels.
22. After the battle with the Midianites, the Israelites said, “Gideon, you rescued us! Now we want you to be our king. Then after your death, your son and then your grandson will rule.”
23. “No,” Gideon replied, “I won't be your king, and my son won't be king either. Only the Lord is your ruler.
24. But I will ask you to do one thing: give me all the earrings you took from the enemy.”The enemy soldiers had been Ishmaelites, and they wore gold earrings.
25. The Israelite soldiers replied, “Of course we will give you the earrings.” Then they spread out a robe on the ground and tossed the earrings on it.
26. The total weight of this gold was nearly twenty kilogrammes. In addition, there was the gold from the camels' ornaments and from the beautiful jewellery worn by the Midianite kings. Gideon also took their purple robes.
27-29. Gideon returned to his home in Ophrah and had the gold made into a statue, which the Israelites soon started worshipping. They became unfaithful to God, and even Gideon and his family were trapped into worshipping the statue.The Midianites had been defeated so badly that they were no longer strong enough to attack Israel. And so Israel was at peace for the remaining forty years of Gideon's life.
30. Gideon had many wives and seventy sons.
31. He even had a wife who lived at Shechem. They had a son, and Gideon named him Abimelech.