Hakim-hakim 7:16-22

7:16 He divided the three hundred men into three units. ¹  He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them. ²  7:17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! ³  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 ⁴  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. ⁵  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. ⁶  Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 7:21 They stood in order ⁷  all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. ⁸  7:22 When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords ⁹  throughout ¹⁰  the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went ¹¹  to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

Hakim-hakim 8:10-11

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. ¹²  8:11 Gideon went up the road of the nomads ¹³  east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army. ¹⁴ 

[7:16]  ¹ tn Heb “heads.”

[7:16]  ² 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 The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“them”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.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.

[7:17]  ³ tn Or “look.”

[7:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “Gideon went, along with the hundred men who were with him, to the edge of the camp.”

[7:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “that were in their hands.”

[7:20]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds, “in order to blow [them].” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “each in his place.”

[7:21]  ⁸ tn Or “fled.”

[7:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord set the sword of each one against his friend.”

[7:22]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The words “they went” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:10]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ones living in tents.”

[8:11]  ¹⁴ 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.