21. Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come, kill us yourself, for as a man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon stepped forward and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. He also took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.
22. The Israelites then said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your son’s son—for you saved us from the power of Midian.”
23. But Gideon answered them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The Lord must rule over you.”
24. Gideon went on to say, “Let me make a request of you. Give me, each of you, a ring from his spoils.” (Since they were Ishmaelites, the enemy had gold rings.)
25. “We will certainly give them,” they replied, and they spread out a cloak into which everyone threw a ring from his spoils.
26. The gold rings he had requested weighed seventeen hundred gold shekels, apart from the crescents and pendants, the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and apart from the trappings that were on the necks of their camels.
27. Gideon made an ephod out of the gold and placed it in his city, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
28. Midian was brought into subjection by the Israelites; they no longer held their heads high, and the land had rest for forty years, during the lifetime of Gideon.
29. Then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went to live in his house.
30. Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
31. His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.
32. At a good old age Gideon, son of Joash, died and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33. But after Gideon was dead, the Israelites again prostituted themselves by following the Baals, making Baal-berith their god.
34. The Israelites did not remember the Lord, their God, who had delivered them from the power of their enemies all around them.