Judges 8:6-7

8:6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give ¹  bread to your army?” ²  8:7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, ³  after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh ⁴  your skin ⁵  with ⁶  desert thorns and briers.”

Judges 8:16-17

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  8:17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and executed the city’s men.

[8:6]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

[8:6]  ² 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).

[8:7]  ³ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[8:7]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or “flesh.”

[8:7]  ⁶ 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.

[8:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “elders.”

[8:16]  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.”