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. 9
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Regarding the translation “chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,” see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 255, and the article by R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15-23.
3 tn Heb “with strength.”
4 tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”
5 tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”
6 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 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.)
8 tn Or “turned around, back.”
7 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.”
10 tn Heb “with a very great slaughter.”
11 tn Heb “The Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.”
13 tn Heb “and all the house of his father.”
14 tn Heb “and lifted him up and brought up.”
15 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
16 tn Heb “besides from the ones living in Gibeah they mustered seven hundred choice men.”
19 tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”