Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionAnd Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GGid'on made it into an ephod and placed it in his city, in Ofrah; and all Yisra'el went whoring after it there — and it became a snare to Gid'on and to his household.
F.O.G.M
F.O.G MessageGideon fashioned all of it into an ephod and set it up in his hometown of Ophrah. And all Israel went chasing after it like a faithless lover — and it became a fatal trap for Gideon and his entire family.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleFrom all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
Footnotes
The ephod — אֵפוֹד (*efod*) — was a priestly vestment associated with seeking divine oracles (cf. 1 Samuel 23:9–12), but fashioning a golden cult object for a private city shrine violated Mosaic law, which reserved authorised worship for the Levitical priesthood at the Tabernacle. The verb "went whoring" — זָנָה (*zanah*) — is the prophetic idiom for spiritual adultery: Israel's covenant unfaithfulness imagined as sexual betrayal of YHWH (cf. Hosea 1–3). The same Gideon who demolished his father's Baal altar (6:25–27) now erects his own illicit shrine. FOG uses "went whoring after"; FOG Message chooses "chasing after it like a faithless lover" to make the covenant-marital imagery accessible without losing its sting.
