7. So Gideon said, “All right! When the Lord has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will beat you with thorns and briars from the desert!”
8. Gideon went on to Penuel and made the same request of the people there, but the men of Penuel gave the same answer as the men of Sukkoth.
9. So he said to them, “I am going to come back safe and sound, and when I do, I will tear your tower down!”
10. Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their army. Of the whole army of desert tribesmen, only about 15,000 were left; 120,000 soldiers had been killed.
11. Gideon went along the road by the edge of the desert, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army by surprise.
12. The two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, ran away, but he pursued them and captured them, and caused their whole army to panic.
13. When Gideon was returning from the battle by way of Heres Pass,
14. he captured a young man from Sukkoth and questioned him. The young man wrote down for Gideon the names of the 77 leading men of Sukkoth.
15. Then Gideon went to the men of Sukkoth and said, “Remember when you refused to help me? You said that you couldn't give any food to my exhausted army because I hadn't captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet. Well, here they are!”
16. He then took thorns and briars from the desert and used them to punish the leaders of Sukkoth.
17. He also tore down the tower at Penuel and killed the men of that city.
18. Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men you killed at Tabor?”They answered, “They looked like you — every one of them like the son of a king.”
19. Gideon said, “They were my brothers, my own mother's sons. I solemnly swear that if you had not killed them, I would not kill you.”
20. Then he said to Jether, his eldest son, “Go ahead, kill them!” But the boy did not draw his sword. He hesitated, because he was still only a boy.