士师记 8 – CCB & NIVUK

Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)

士师记 8:1-35

基甸擒杀米甸二王

1后来,以法莲人对基甸说:“你攻打米甸人时为什么不召我们去?你为什么这样对待我们?”他们与他激烈地争论起来。

2基甸说:“我怎能比得上你们呢?以法莲人摘剩的葡萄岂不比我们亚比以谢族收获的葡萄更好吗? 3上帝把两名米甸人的首领俄立西伊伯交在了你们手中,我所做的有哪一件能与这事相比呢?我怎能比得上你们呢?”基甸这么一说,他们的怒气就平息了。

4基甸率领他的三百人渡过约旦河,虽然疲惫不堪,仍紧追敌人。 5基甸疏割的人说:“我们在追赶西巴撒慕拿两个米甸王,十分疲惫,请给我的军队一些饼吃。”

6疏割的首领却说:“你还没有抓到西巴撒慕拿,我们凭什么给你的军队饼吃?”

7基甸说:“好吧,耶和华把西巴撒慕拿交在我们手中后,我必回来用荒野的荆棘抽打你们。”

8基甸又去毗努伊勒提出同样的请求,也遭到拒绝。 9基甸对那里的人说:“我凯旋归来时,必拆毁你们的这座城楼。”

10那时,西巴撒慕拿率领东方各族的残余军队一万五千人驻扎在加各,因为已经有十二万刀兵被杀。 11基甸取道挪巴约比哈东边游牧者走的路,出其不意地突袭米甸人。 12米甸二王西巴撒慕拿逃跑,基甸追上去擒住他们,击溃他们全军。

13约阿施的儿子基甸从战场返回,经过希列斯山坡时, 14抓住一个疏割的青年,问他疏割的首领和长老是谁,他就写下疏割七十七位首领和长老的名字。 15基甸到了疏割,对那里的人说:“你们曾经讥笑我说,‘你还没有抓到西巴撒慕拿,我们凭什么给你疲惫的军队饼吃?’看!西巴撒慕拿在这里!” 16说完,就捉住城中的长老,用荒野的荆棘抽打他们。 17他又去拆毁毗努伊勒的城楼,杀了城里的人。

18基甸西巴撒慕拿:“你们在他泊山杀的人是什么样子?”他们回答说:“他们长得像你,都像王子一样。”

19基甸说:“他们是我同母所生的兄弟,我凭永活的耶和华起誓,如果你们当初不杀他们,今天我就不杀你们了。” 20于是,基甸对长子益帖说:“你杀死他们。”但益帖年纪小,心中害怕,不敢动手。

21西巴撒慕拿基甸说:“你亲自动手吧!这是男子汉做的事。”基甸便亲手杀了他们,拿走了他们骆驼颈上的月牙饰物。

基甸造以弗得

22以色列人对基甸说:“你从米甸人手中救了我们,请你和你的子孙统治我们。”

23基甸回答说:“我和我子孙都不统治你们,统治你们的是耶和华。 24但我有一个要求,请你们把抢来的耳环都给我。”原来米甸人属于以实玛利族,都戴金耳环。

25他们欣然同意,便铺开一件外衣,各自把抢来的金耳环都放在上面, 26重约二十公斤。此外,还有米甸王的月牙饰物、耳坠、紫袍以及骆驼颈上的金链。 27基甸用这些金子造了一件以弗得圣衣,放在自己的家乡俄弗拉。后来,以色列人拜那件以弗得,玷污自己,使基甸及其全家陷入网罗。

28这样,米甸人被以色列人征服了,从此一蹶不振。基甸在世之日,以色列境内安享太平四十年。

基甸去世

29约阿施的儿子耶路·巴力返回家乡居住。 30他有许多妻子,生了七十个儿子。 31他的妾住在示剑,也给他生了一个儿子,他给孩子取名叫亚比米勒32约阿施的儿子基甸年高寿终,葬在亚比以谢族的俄弗拉,在他父亲约阿施的坟墓里。

33基甸刚去世,以色列人便又与众巴力苟合,奉巴力·比利土为他们的神明, 34忘记了他们的上帝耶和华曾经从四围的仇敌手中拯救他们, 35也没有因耶路·巴力——基甸的功绩而厚待他的家人。

New International Version – UK

Judges 8:1-35

Zebah and Zalmunna

1Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, ‘Why have you treated us like this? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?’ And they challenged him vigorously.

2But he answered them, ‘What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? 3God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?’ At this, their resentment against him subsided.

4Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. 5He said to the men of Sukkoth, ‘Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.’

6But the officials of Sukkoth said, ‘Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?’

7Then Gideon replied, ‘Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.’

8From there he went up to Peniel8:8 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel; also in verses 9 and 17 and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. 9So he said to the men of Peniel, ‘When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.’

10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. 11Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army. 12Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.

13Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. 14He caught a young man of Sukkoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Sukkoth, the elders of the town. 15Then Gideon came and said to the men of Sukkoth, ‘Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?” ’ 16He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. 17He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.

18Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?’

‘Men like you,’ they answered, ‘each one with the bearing of a prince.’

19Gideon replied, ‘Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.’ 20Turning to Jether, his eldest son, he said, ‘Kill them!’ But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.

21Zebah and Zalmunna said, ‘Come, do it yourself. “As is the man, so is his strength.” ’ So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels’ necks.

Gideon’s ephod

22The Israelites said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us – you, your son and your grandson – because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.’

23But Gideon told them, ‘I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.’ 24And he said, ‘I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.’ (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)

25They answered, ‘We’ll be glad to give them.’ So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it. 26The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels,8:26 That is, about 20 kilograms not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks. 27Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshipping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Gideon’s death

28Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land had peace for forty years.

29Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live. 30He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. 31His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek. 32Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god 34and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.