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Person Old Testament

Jether

Jether was Gideon's firstborn son who was commanded to kill Zebah and Zalmunna but was too young and fearful to do so. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Judges 8:20.

Why it matters. Gideon's firstborn son who refused to kill captives.

Primary passages
Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Jether

Jether was the firstborn son of Gideon, the judge of Israel who delivered the Israelites from Midianite oppression. After Gideon defeated the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna, he commanded Jether to kill them. However, Jether was still a youth and was afraid to carry out the execution. As a result, Gideon himself killed the Midianite kings. This incident highlights Jether's youth and inexperience, as well as Gideon's role as a strong leader and warrior.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

Connections

No reviewed connections yet.

Family

Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.

Parents
Gideon

Appears in Scripture

Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

  • Judges (1 verse)

    8:20

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.