19 Gideon said, “Those men were my brothers, my mother’s sons! As the Lord lives, if you had not killed them, I would not kill you now.”
20 Then Gideon turned to Jether, his oldest son, and said, “Kill these kings.” But Jether was only a boy and was afraid, so he would not take out his sword.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, kill us yourself. You are a man and strong enough to do the job.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. Then Gideon took the decorations shaped like the moon off their camels’ necks.
22 The Israelites said to Gideon, “You saved us from the Midianites. So now rule over us. We want you, your son, and your grandson to rule over us.”
23 But Gideon told the Israelites, “The Lord will be your ruler. I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you.”
24 Some of the people who the men of Israel defeated were Ishmaelites. And the Ishmaelite men wore gold earrings. So Gideon said to the Israelites, “I want you to do this one thing for me. I want each of you to give me a gold earring from the things you took in the battle.”
25 The Israelites said to Gideon, “We will gladly give you what you want.” So they put a coat down on the ground, and each man threw an earring onto the coat.