20:1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba 4 and from the land of Gilead 5 left their homes 6 and assembled together 7 before the Lord at Mizpah.
20:8 All Israel rose up in unison 8 and said, “Not one of us will go home! 9 Not one of us will return 10 to his house!
1 tn Or “certainly.”
2 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.”
3 tn Heb “gathered at the city as one man, united.”
5 sn Dan was located in the far north of the country, while Beer Sheba was located in the far south. This encompassed all the territory of the land of Canaan occupied by the Israelites.
6 sn The land of Gilead was on the eastern side of the Jordan River.
7 tn Heb “went out.”
8 tn Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”
7 tn Heb “as one man.”
8 tn Heb “to his tent.”
9 tn Or “turn aside.”
9 tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
10 tn Or “Arise.”
11 tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”
12 tn Heb “arose and killed.”