Judges 8:3 · World English Bible
God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb! What was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that.
Māna: Conceit Conceit is the habit of measuring self against others. Ephraim's grievance runs on rank: not being summoned first leaves their standing smaller than Abiezer's next to a victory already won.
From the Buddhism reading below.
The same verse, read by one tradition.
BUDDHISM
Māna: Conceit Conceit is the habit of measuring self against others. Ephraim's grievance runs on rank: not being summoned first leaves their standing smaller than Abiezer's next to a victory already won. Gideon answers with a question that sets his whole campaign beneath their single catch, and the ranking they came to fight over dissolves.
Kodha: Anger Anger is the flare that demands an answer. These men arrive hot over being passed over, and heat like that burns only while something feeds it. Gideon pulls out the fuel by handing them the honor, and the anger dies down on the spot.
Khanti: Patience Patience is the capacity to take a hard word without returning one. Coming off a night of chasing Midianites, Gideon meets a sharp rebuke where thanks would be expected, and he has the men and the standing to answer in kind. He uses none of it, and the quarrel ends in one exchange rather than turning into the killing that comes later at Succoth.
Piyavācā: Kindly speech Kindly speech is words chosen to hold people together. A soft answer turns away wrath, and Gideon's costs him only credit he can spare while keeping Israel whole in the middle of a pursuit that is not finished. Speech aimed at peace does more work here than any argument about who was called and when.
Muditā: Gladness at another's good Gladness at another's success is what makes the soft answer sincere rather than tactical. Oreb and Zeeb are in Ephraim's hands, and Gideon speaks of that catch as the better harvest, their gleaning worth more than his vintage. He gives the delivering to God and the hand to them, so nothing remains that he needs to defend.
Buddhism lens
Whose good work have I been slow to name because naming it would make mine look smaller?
Rivers and seas receive every stream because they take the lowest place. Put yourself under and you lead without fighting; insist on being above and everything becomes a contest.
Who is honored? The one who honors others. The credit you hand away comes back as something sturdier than the credit you defend.
When someone comes at you sharply, remember you are both working the same ground, and answering in kind only doubles the damage. Yield the point and you keep the person.
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Buddhism