Judges 8:23-25

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

²³Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”^[a] ²⁴And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you; give me every man of you the earrings of his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ish′maelites.) ²⁵And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a garment, and every man cast in it the earrings of his spoil.

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Footnotes

8.23 It appears from the sequel that Gideon did in fact become a king even if he refused the title; but the idea of an hereditary monarchy was still unacceptable, as the following history of Abimelech shows.

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.