25. “Gladly!” they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered from the plunder.
26. The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds, not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.
27. Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.
28. That is the story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.
29. Then Gideon son of Joash returned home.
30. He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives.
31. He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech.
32. Gideon died when he was very old, and he was buried in the grave of his father, Joash, at Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer.