Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the carrings of his prey. And 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.
Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not. -- Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.
Let nothing be done, through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. -- Charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not pufied up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own.
