18. Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed at Tabor—what were they like?”“Like you,” they replied. “They all had the look of a king’s son.”
19. “They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother!” Gideon exclaimed. “As surely as the lord lives, I wouldn’t kill you if you hadn’t killed them.”
20. Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, for he was only a boy and was afraid.
21. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Be a man! Kill us yourself!” So Gideon killed them both and took the royal ornaments from the necks of their camels.
22. Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian.”
23. But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The lord will rule over you!
24. However, I do have one request—that each of you give me an earring from the plunder you collected from your fallen enemies.” (The enemies, being Ishmaelites, all wore gold earrings.)
25. “Gladly!” they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered from the plunder.
26. The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds, not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.
27. Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.