Gideon makes a gold ephod
22 After that, the Israelites said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us as our king! You, your son and your grandson should rule us. You have rescued us from Midian's power.’
23 But Gideon said to them, ‘I will not agree to rule over you. Nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.’
24 Gideon also said, ‘I will ask you only to do one thing for me. Each of you should give me one ear-ring from the things that you took from our enemies.’ (The Midianites wore gold ear-rings because they were descendants of Ishmael.)
25 The people replied, ‘We are happy to give them to you.’
So they put a coat on the ground. Each man threw a ring onto it. 26 The weight of all the rings was 20 kilograms. They also had valuable silver images and jewels. They had valuable clothes that the kings of Midian wore and necklaces from the camels. 27 Gideon used the gold to make an image of an ephod. He put it in Ophrah, where he lived. All the Israelites came there and they worshipped the image. It caused them to turn away from the true God. It became like a trap that caught Gideon and his family.
8:27An ephod was something that the priests wore. See Exodus 28:4-6. Gideon used gold to make an image. It was an idol that people worshipped. So it was not a real ephod. 