Judges 8:22-27
New English Translation
Gideon Rejects a Crown but Makes an Ephod
22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian’s power.”[a] 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” 24 Gideon continued,[b] “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.”[c] (The Midianites[d] had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.”[e] So they[f] spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to 1,700 gold shekels.[g] This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry,[h] purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels.[i] 27 Gideon used all this to make[j] an ephod,[k] which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites[l] prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it[m] there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.
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- Judges 8:22 tn Heb “hand.”
- Judges 8:24 tn Heb “said to them.”
- Judges 8:24 tn Heb “Give to me, each one, an earring from his plunder.”
- Judges 8:24 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Midianites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 8:25 tn Heb “We will indeed give.”
- Judges 8:25 tc In the LXX the subject of this verb is singular, referring to Gideon rather than to the Israelites.
- Judges 8:26 sn 1,700 gold shekels would be about 42.7 pounds (19.4 kilograms) of gold.
- Judges 8:26 tn Or “pendants.”
- Judges 8:26 tn Heb “the ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.”
- Judges 8:27 tn Heb “made it into.”
- Judges 8:27 sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.
- Judges 8:27 tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).
- Judges 8:27 tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
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