When the tribe of Ephraim heard what Gideon had done, they came to him angrily, saying, "Why did you go to fight Midian without calling us?" But Gideon calmed them with wisdom, saying, "What I have done is little compared to you. God gave the princes of Midian—Oreb and Zeeb—into your hands. What could I have done compared to that?" His gentle answer turned away their anger.
Still pursuing the enemy, Gideon and his three hundred men crossed the Jordan, weary yet determined. They asked the people of Succoth for bread, but the leaders mocked him, saying, "Do you already have Zebah and Zalmunna? Why should we help you?" Gideon warned, "When the Lord delivers them into my hand, I will punish you with thorns and briers."
He went on to Peniel and made the same request, but they too refused. Gideon vowed, "When I return in victory, I will tear down this tower."
Meanwhile, Zebah and Zalmunna were camped at Karkor with fifteen thousand men, the last of an army that once numbered 120,000. Gideon attacked them from an unexpected route, surprising the camp and capturing both kings. When he returned, he found a young man from Succoth who listed the seventy-seven elders of the city. Gideon confronted the town and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me." Then he punished the elders with thorns, and at Peniel he tore down their tower and struck down the men there.
Turning to the captured kings, Gideon asked, "What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?" They replied, "Men who looked like you—each one like a prince." Then Gideon said with sorrow, "Those were my brothers, my mother's sons. If you had spared them, I would not kill you." He told his son Jether to execute them, but the boy was afraid. So Gideon himself killed Zebah and Zalmunna and took the golden ornaments from their camels' necks.
Afterward, the Israelites said, "Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandson—for you have saved us from Midian." But Gideon replied, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you."
He asked only for a small gift—one gold earring from each man's share of the plunder. They willingly gave them, totaling seventeen hundred shekels of gold, plus the kings' ornaments and purple garments. From this, Gideon made an ephod and placed it in his hometown, Ophrah. But Israel soon turned it into an idol, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.
Midian was humbled and never rose again. The land had peace for forty years during Gideon's life. He had many wives and seventy sons, and one son named Abimelech from a concubine in Shechem. When Gideon died, he was buried in Ophrah, among his fathers.
Yet soon after his death, Israel forgot the Lord who had rescued them and turned again to the Baals. They even forgot to honor the house of Gideon, the man who had once saved them.