Judges 8:1-10

¹The men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “What is this you have done to us? You did not call us when you went to fight against Midian.” Then they had a violent argument with him.

²He said to them, “What have I done now compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim's grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer?

³God has given you victory over the princes of Midian—Oreb and Zeeb! What have I accomplished compared to you?” Their anger toward him died down when he said this.

⁴Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over it, he and the three hundred men who were with him. They were exhausted, yet they still kept up the pursuit.

⁵He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶Then the officials said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand? Why should we give bread to your army?”

⁷Gideon said, “When Yahweh has given us victory over Zebah and Zalmunna, I will tear your skin with the desert thorns and briers.”

⁸He went up from there to Peniel and spoke to the people there in the same way, but the men of Peniel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.

⁹He spoke also to the men of Peniel and said, “When I come again in peace, I will pull down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who remained out of the entire army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.