16 Then Gideon took the elders of the town and taught them a lesson, punishing them with thorns and briers from the wilderness.
17 He also tore down the tower of Peniel and killed all the men in the town.
18 Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed at Tabor—what were they like?”“Like you,” they replied. “They all had the look of a king’s son.”
19 “They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother!” Gideon exclaimed. “As surely as the lord lives, I wouldn’t kill you if you hadn’t killed them.”
20 Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, for he was only a boy and was afraid.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Be a man! Kill us yourself!” So Gideon killed them both and took the royal ornaments from the necks of their camels.
22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian.”