Hakim-hakim 6:11--8:27
Konteks6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger 1 came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon 2 was threshing 3 wheat in a winepress 4 so he could hide it from the Midianites. 5 6:12 The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!” 6:13 Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, 6 but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster 7 overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, 8 ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 6:14 Then the Lord himself 9 turned to him and said, “You have the strength. 10 Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! 11 Have I not sent you?” 6:15 Gideon 12 said to him, “But Lord, 13 how 14 can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” 15 6:16 The Lord said to him, “Ah, but 16 I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.” 17 6:17 Gideon 18 said to him, “If you really are pleased with me, 19 then give me 20 a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me. 6:18 Do not leave this place until I come back 21 with a gift 22 and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.”
6:19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, 23 along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food 24 to him under the oak tree and presented it to him. 6:20 God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, 25 and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. 26 6:21 The Lord’s messenger touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff. 27 Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. The Lord’s messenger then disappeared. 28
6:22 When Gideon realized 29 that it was the Lord’s messenger, he 30 said, “Oh no! 31 Master, Lord! 32 I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!” 6:23 The Lord said to him, “You are safe! 33 Do not be afraid! You are not going to die!” 6:24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” 34 To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
6:25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. 35 Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole. 6:26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. 36 Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.” 6:27 So Gideon took ten of his servants 37 and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family 38 and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime. 39
6:28 When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw 40 the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar. 6:29 They said to one another, 41 “Who did this?” 42 They investigated the matter thoroughly 43 and concluded 44 that Gideon son of Joash had done it. 6:30 The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so we can execute him! 45 He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.” 6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, 46 “Must you fight Baal’s battles? 47 Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause 48 will die by morning! 49 If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! 50 After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” 51 6:32 That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, 52 because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”
6:33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east 53 assembled. They crossed the Jordan River 54 and camped in the Jezreel Valley. 6:34 The Lord’s spirit took control of 55 Gideon. He blew a trumpet, 56 summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 57 6:35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh and summoned them to follow him as well. 58 He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him.
6:36 Gideon said to God, “If you really intend to use me to deliver Israel, 59 as you promised, then give me a sign as proof. 60 6:37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it 61 is dry, then I will be sure 62 that you will use me to deliver Israel, 63 as you promised.” 6:38 The Lord did as he asked. 64 When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl. 65 6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. 66 Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” 67 6:40 That night God did as he asked. 68 Only the fleece was dry and the ground around it was covered with dew.
7:1 Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men 69 got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. 70 The Midianites 71 were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley. 7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. 72 Israel might brag, 73 ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ 74 7:3 Now, announce to the men, 75 ‘Whoever is shaking with fear 76 may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” 77 Twenty-two thousand men 78 went home; 79 ten thousand remained. 7:4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. 80 Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. 81 When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; 82 when I say, 83 ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” 84 7:5 So he brought the men 85 down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.” 86 7:6 Three hundred men lapped; 87 the rest of the men 88 kneeled to drink water. 7:7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army 89 and I will hand Midian over to you. 90 The rest of the men should go home.” 91 7:8 The men 92 who were chosen 93 took supplies 94 and their trumpets. Gideon 95 sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; 96 he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites 97 were camped down below 98 in the valley.
7:9 That night the Lord said to Gideon, 99 “Get up! Attack 100 the camp, for I am handing it over to you. 101 7:10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant 7:11 and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave 102 and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp. 103 7:12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. 104 Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 7:13 When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. 105 The man 106 said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw 107 a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.” 108 7:14 The other man said, 109 “Without a doubt this symbolizes 110 the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”
7:15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. 111 Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!” 7:16 He divided the three hundred men into three units. 112 He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them. 113 7:17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! 114 I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do! 7:18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”
7:19 Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp 115 at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying. 116 7:20 All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. 117 Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 7:21 They stood in order 118 all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. 119 7:22 When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords 120 throughout 121 the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went 122 to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 7:23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites. 123
7:24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. 124 Take control of the fords of the streams 125 all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” 126 When all the Ephraimites had assembled, 127 they took control of the fords 128 all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River. 7:25 They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. 129 They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb 130 in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites 131 and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River. 132
8:1 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us 133 when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him. 8:2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes 134 are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! 135 8:3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” 136 When he said this, they calmed down. 137
8:4 Now Gideon and his three hundred men had crossed over the Jordan River, and even though they were exhausted, they were still chasing the Midianites. 138 8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give 139 some loaves of bread to the men 140 who are following me, 141 because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 8:6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give 142 bread to your army?” 143 8:7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, 144 after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh 145 your skin 146 with 147 desert thorns and briers.” 8:8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. 148 The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. 149 8:9 He also threatened 150 the men of Penuel, warning, 151 “When I return victoriously, 152 I will tear down this tower.”
8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed. 153 8:11 Gideon went up the road of the nomads 154 east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army. 155 8:12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon 156 chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised 157 their entire army.
8:13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the pass 158 of Heres. 8:14 He captured a young man from Succoth 159 and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. 160 8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! 161 Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, ‘You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’” 162 8:16 He seized the leaders 163 of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. 164 8:17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and executed the city’s men.
8:18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me 165 the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.” 166 8:19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, 167 as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 8:20 He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on! 168 Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword, 169 because he was still young. 8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, 170 “Come on, 171 you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” 172 So Gideon killed 173 Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.
8:22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us – you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian’s power.” 174 8:23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” 8:24 Gideon continued, 175 “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” 176 (The Midianites 177 had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 8:25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.” 178 So they 179 spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 8:26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. 180 This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, 181 purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. 182 8:27 Gideon used all this to make 183 an ephod, 184 which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites 185 prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it 186 there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.
[6:11] 1 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.
[6:11] sn The
[6:11] 2 tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.
[6:11] 3 tn Heb “beating out.”
[6:11] 4 sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.
[6:13] 6 tn Heb “But my lord.”
[6:14] 9 sn Some interpreters equate the
[6:14] 10 tn Heb “Go in this strength of yours.”
[6:14] 11 tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”
[6:15] 12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[6:15] 13 tn Note the switch to אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). Gideon seems aware that he is speaking to someone other than, and superior to, the messenger, whom he addressed as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”) in v. 13.
[6:15] 15 tn Heb “in my father’s house.”
[6:16] 17 tn Heb “You will strike down Midian as one man.” The idiom “as one man” emphasizes the collective unity of a group (see Judg 20:8, 11). Here it may carry the force, “as if they were just one man.”
[6:17] 18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[6:17] 19 tn Heb “If I have found favor in your eyes.”
[6:17] 20 tn Heb “perform for me.”
[6:18] 21 tn The Hebrew text adds “to you,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[6:18] 22 tn Heb “and I will bring out my gift.” The precise nuance of the Hebrew word מִנְחָה (minkhah, “gift”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a gift offered as a sign of goodwill or submission. In some cases it is used of a gift offered to appease someone whom the offerer has offended. The word can also carry a sacrificial connotation.
[6:19] 23 tn Heb “a kid from among the goats.”
[6:19] 24 tn The words “the food” are not in the Hebrew text (an implied direct object). They are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
[6:20] 25 tn Heb “Take the meat…and put [it] on this rock.”
[6:20] 26 tn Heb “and he did so.”
[6:21] 27 tn Heb “extended the tip of the staff which was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread.”
[6:21] 28 tn Heb “went from his eyes.”
[6:22] 30 tn Heb “Gideon.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[6:22] 32 tn The Hebrew text reads אֲדֹנַי יְהוִה (’adonay yÿhvih, “Lord [the same title used in v. 15],
[6:23] 33 tn Heb “Peace to you.” For a similar use of this idiom to introduce a reassuring word, see Gen 43:23.
[6:24] 34 tn Heb “The
[6:25] 35 tn Or “Take a bull from your father’s herd, the second one, the one seven years old.” Apparently Gideon would need the bulls to pull down the altar.
[6:26] 36 tn Possibly “in a row” or “in a layer,” perhaps referring to the arrangement of the stones used in the altar’s construction.
[6:27] 37 tn Heb “men from among his servants.”
[6:27] 39 tn Heb “so he did it at night.”
[6:28] 40 tn Heb “look!” The narrator uses this word to invite his audience/readers to view the scene through the eyes of the men.
[6:29] 41 tn Heb “each one to his neighbor.”
[6:29] 42 tn Heb “this thing.”
[6:29] 43 tn Heb “they inquired and searched.” The synonyms are joined to emphasize the care with which they conducted their inquiry.
[6:29] 44 tn Heb “and said.” Perhaps the plural subject is indefinite. If so, it could be translated, “they were told.”
[6:30] 45 tn Heb “and let him die.” The jussive form with vav after the imperative is best translated as a purpose clause.
[6:31] 46 tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”
[6:31] 47 tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”
[6:31] 48 tn Heb “fights for him.”
[6:31] 49 sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.
[6:31] 50 tn Heb “fight for himself.”
[6:31] 51 tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).
[6:32] 52 tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub-Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight!”
[6:33] 53 tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east.”
[6:33] 54 tn The words “the Jordan River” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[6:34] 56 tn That is, “mustered an army.”
[6:34] 57 tn Heb “Abiezer was summoned after him.”
[6:35] 58 tn Heb “and he also was summoned after him.”
[6:36] 59 tn More literally, “you are about to deliver Israel by my hand.”
[6:36] 60 tn The words “then give me a sign as proof” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[6:37] 61 tn Heb “all the ground.”
[6:37] 63 tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”
[6:38] 64 tn Heb “And it was so.”
[6:38] 65 tn Heb “dew dripped from the fleece – a bowl full of water.”
[6:39] 66 tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”
[6:39] 67 tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”
[6:40] 68 tn Heb “God did so that night.”
[7:1] 69 tn Heb “and all the people who were with him.”
[7:1] 70 sn The name Harod means, ironically, “trembling.”
[7:1] 71 tn Heb “Midian.” The LXX reads “and Amalek” (cf. v. 12; 6:33).
[7:2] 72 tn Heb “the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand.”
[7:2] 73 tn Heb “might glorify itself against me.”
[7:2] 74 tn Heb “my hand has delivered me.”
[7:3] 75 tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”
[7:3] 76 tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”
[7:3] 77 tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading “and leave Mount Gilead” for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, “So Gideon tested them” (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).
[7:3] 78 tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)
[7:3] 79 tn Or “turned around, back.”
[7:4] 80 tn Heb “too many people.”
[7:4] 81 tn Heb “test them for you there.”
[7:4] 82 tn Heb “he should go with you.”
[7:4] 83 tn Heb also has “to you.”
[7:4] 84 tn Heb “he should not go.”
[7:5] 86 tn Heb “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, put him by himself, as well as the one who gets down on his knees to drink.”
[7:6] 87 tc The Hebrew text adds, “with their hands to their mouths,” This makes no sense in light of v. 5, which distinguishes between dog-like lappers (who would not use their hands to drink) and those who kneel (who would use their hands). It seems likely that the words “with their hands to their mouths” have been misplaced from v. 6. They fit better at the end of v. 5 or v. 6. Perhaps these words were originally a marginal scribal note which was later accidentally inserted into the text in the wrong place.
[7:7] 89 tn Heb “you.” The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.
[7:7] 90 tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.
[7:7] 91 tn Heb “All the people should go, each to his place.”
[7:8] 93 tn The words “who were chosen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[7:8] 94 tn The Hebrew text has “in their hands.”
[7:8] 95 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:8] 98 tn The Hebrew text adds “him” (i.e., Gideon).
[7:9] 99 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:9] 100 tn Heb “Go down against.”
[7:9] 101 tn The Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, emphasizing the certainty of the promise.
[7:11] 102 tn Heb “your hands will be strengthened.”
[7:11] 103 tn Heb “to the edge of the ones in battle array who were in the camp.”
[7:12] 104 tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east were falling in the valley like locusts in great number.”
[7:13] 105 tn Heb “And Gideon came, and, look, a man was relating to his friend a dream.”
[7:13] 106 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:13] 107 tn Heb “Look!” The repetition of this interjection, while emphatic in Hebrew, would be redundant in the English translation.
[7:13] 108 tn Heb “It came to the tent and struck it and it fell. It turned it upside down and the tent fell.”
[7:14] 109 tn Heb “answered and said.”
[7:14] 110 tn Heb “This can be nothing but.”
[7:15] 111 tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”
[7:16] 113 tn Heb “the jars.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“them”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[7:16] sn They hid the torches inside the earthenware jars to disguise their approach and to keep the torches from being extinguished by the breeze.
[7:19] 115 tn Heb “Gideon went, along with the hundred men who were with him, to the edge of the camp.”
[7:19] 116 tn Heb “that were in their hands.”
[7:20] 117 tn The Hebrew text adds, “in order to blow [them].” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[7:21] 118 tn Heb “each in his place.”
[7:22] 120 tn Heb “the
[7:22] 121 tc MT has “and throughout the camp,” but the conjunction (“and”) is due to dittography and should be dropped. Compare the ancient versions, which lack the conjunction here.
[7:22] 122 tn The words “they went” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[7:24] 124 tn Heb “to meet Midian.”
[7:24] 125 tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”
[7:24] 126 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).
[7:24] 127 tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”
[7:24] 128 tn Heb “they captured the waters.”
[7:25] 129 sn The names Oreb and Zeeb, which mean “Raven” and “Wolf” respectively, are appropriate because the Midianites had been like scavengers and predators to Israel.
[7:25] 130 tn The Hebrew text repeats the verb “executed.” This has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[7:25] 132 tn Heb “beyond the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity (also in 8:4).
[8:1] 133 tn Heb “by not summoning us.”
[8:2] 135 sn Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest. Gideon employs an agricultural metaphor. He argues that Ephraim’s mopping up operations, though seemingly like the inferior grapes which are missed initially by the harvesters or left for the poor, are actually more noteworthy than the military efforts of Gideon’s family.
[8:3] 136 tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”
[8:3] 137 tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”
[8:4] 138 tn Heb “And Gideon arrived at the Jordan, crossing over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted and chasing.” The English past perfect (“had crossed”) is used because this verse flashes back chronologically to an event that preceded the hostile encounter described in vv. 1-3. (Note that 7:25 assumes Gideon had already crossed the Jordan.)
[8:5] 139 tn Or perhaps, “sell.”
[8:5] 140 tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.
[8:5] 141 tn Heb “who are at my feet.”
[8:6] 142 tn Or perhaps, “sell.”
[8:6] 143 tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your army bread?” Perhaps the reference to the kings’ “palms” should be taken literally. The officials of Succoth may be alluding to the practice of mutilating prisoners or enemy corpses (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 155).
[8:6] sn The officials of Succoth are hesitant to give (or sell) food to Gideon’s forces because they are not sure of the outcome of the battle. Perhaps they had made an alliance with the Midianites which demanded their loyalty.
[8:7] 145 sn I will thresh. The metaphor is agricultural. Threshing was usually done on a hard threshing floor. As farm animals walked over the stalks, pulling behind them a board embedded with sharp stones, the stalks and grain would be separated. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63-65. Gideon threatens to use thorns and briers on his sledge.
[8:7] 147 tn This is apparently a rare instrumental use of the Hebrew preposition אֵת (’et, note the use of ב [bet] in v. 16). Some, however, argue that אֵת more naturally indicates accompaniment (“together with”). In this case Gideon envisions threshing their skin along with thorns and briers, just as the stalks and grain are intermingled on the threshing floor. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 229-30.
[8:8] 148 tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”
[8:8] 149 tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.”
[8:9] 150 tn Heb “said to.” The translation “threatened” is interpretive, but is clearly indicated by the context.
[8:9] 152 tn Or “safely.” Heb “in peace.”
[8:10] 153 tn Heb “About fifteen thousand [in number] were all the ones remaining from the army of the sons of the east. The fallen ones were a hundred and twenty thousand [in number], men drawing the sword.”
[8:11] 154 tn Heb “the ones living in tents.”
[8:11] 155 tn Heb “and attacked the army, while the army was secure.” The Hebrew term בֶטַח (vetakh, “secure”) probably means the army was undefended (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 156), not suspecting an attack at that time and place.
[8:12] 156 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[8:12] 157 tn Or “routed”; Heb “caused to panic.”
[8:14] 159 tn Heb “from the men of Succoth.”
[8:14] 160 tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”
[8:15] 161 tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[8:15] 162 tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”
[8:15] sn Gideon changes their actual statement (see v. 6) by saying exhausted men rather than “army.” In this way he emphasizes the crisis his men were facing and highlights the insensitivity of the men of Succoth.
[8:16] 164 tc The translation follows the reading of several ancient versions (LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) in assuming the form וַיָּדָשׁ (vayyadash) from the verb דּוֹשׁ (dosh, “thresh”) as in v. 7. The MT reads instead the form וַיֹּדַע (vayyoda’, “make known”), a Hiphil form of יָדַע (yadah). In this case one could translate, “he used them [i.e., the thorns and briers] to teach the men of Succoth a lesson.”
[8:18] 165 tn Heb “Where are?”
[8:18] 166 tn Heb “each one like the appearance of sons of the king.”
[8:19] 167 tn The words “I swear” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[8:20] 169 tn Heb “did not draw his sword for he was afraid.”
[8:21] 170 tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[8:21] 172 tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”
[8:21] 173 tn Heb “arose and killed.”
[8:24] 175 tn Heb “said to them.”
[8:24] 176 tn Heb “Give to me, each one, an earring from his plunder.”
[8:24] 177 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Midianites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[8:25] 178 tn Heb “We will indeed give.”
[8:25] 179 tc In the LXX the subject of this verb is singular, referring to Gideon rather than to the Israelites.
[8:26] 180 sn Seventeen hundred gold shekels would be about 42.7 pounds (19.4 kilograms) of gold.
[8:26] 182 tn Heb “the ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.”
[8:27] 183 tn Heb “made it into.”
[8:27] 184 sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.
[8:27] 185 tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).
[8:27] 186 tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
