Judges 8:28
Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
Midian had ravaged and oppressed Israel for seven years before being subdued. The deliverance came after the people heeded the Lord's reproof and confessed their sins, when God raised up Gideon to help them. In this the verse illustrates the repeated cycle of backsliding, chastisement, confession, and deliverance, in which a faithful deliverer rescues Israel from its enemies. Midian was so completely subdued that it lifted up its head no more, and the country was in quietness for forty years during Gideon's lifetime. The relief after deliverance lasted only until the deliverer died, when the people gradually returned to idolatry.