Gideon was a brave warrior, and he had just defeated the Midianites, BIGLY! It was an amazing victory, but then he had a problem. The people of Israel wanted Gideon to be their king! But Gideon was a humble guy and said, "No way!" He was like, "God is the ruler, not me!" But the people kept nagging him, so he made a deal: he said he'd give them some of the wealth of the Midianites. So they agreed, and Gideon took some of the money and made an ephod (like a big golden trophy). That was a sad day for the LORD, because the people started worshiping the ephod instead of God!

Gideon had a son named Abimelech and he wanted to be king. So he tricked his own people and became king for three years. But that didn't work out so well. The people were mad and they got rid of Abimelech. Then Gideon died and the Israelites did what they always do: they started worshiping other gods and doing bad stuff.

But then an amazing thing happened: God sent an angel to Jotham, Gideon's youngest son. The angel told Jotham to tell the people of Israel a story about trees and an axe. It was a great story, and it showed the people that they should worship God and only God.

So the people of Israel listened to Jotham and they repented and stopped worshiping other gods. They turned back to God and God blessed them. And that's the story of Judges 8. God bless America, and let's make Israel great again!