Judges 8:14

8:14 He captured a young man from Succoth ¹  and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. ² 

Judges 8:6

8:6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give ³  bread to your army?” ⁴ 

Judges 8:8

8:8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. ⁵  The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. ⁶ 

Judges 8:16

8:16 He seized the leaders ⁷  of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. ⁸ 

Judges 8:5

8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give ⁹  some loaves of bread to the men ¹⁰  who are following me, ¹¹  because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

Judges 8:15

8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ¹²  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?’” ¹³ 

¹ tn Heb “from the men of Succoth.”

² tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”

³ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

⁴ 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).

⁵ tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”

⁶ tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.”

⁷ tn Heb “elders.”

⁸ 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.”

⁹ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.

¹¹ tn Heb “who are at my feet.”

¹¹ tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹² tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”