⁵ He said to the men of Sukkoth,^(A) “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out,^(B) and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna,^(C) the kings of Midian.”

⁶ But the officials of Sukkoth^(D) said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread^(E) to your troops?”^(F)

⁷ Then Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna^(G) into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”

⁸ From there he went up to Peniel^[a](H) and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. ⁹ So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”^(I)

¹⁰ Now 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.^{(J) 11} Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah^(K) and Jogbehah^(L) and attacked the unsuspecting army. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.

¹³ Gideon son of Joash^(M) then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres.^{(N) 14} He 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,^(O) the elders^(P) of the town. ¹⁵ Then 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?^(Q)’” ¹⁶ He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson^(R) by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.