Judges 5:30

5:30 ‘No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder ¹  –

a girl or two for each man to rape! ² 

Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, ³ 

he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, ⁴ 

two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth,

for the neck of the plunderer!’ ⁵ 

Judges 8:21

8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ⁶  “Come on, ⁷  you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” ⁸  So Gideon killed ⁹  Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:26

8:26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. ¹⁰  This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, ¹¹  purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. ¹² 

[5:30]  ¹ tn Heb “Are they not finding, dividing the plunder?”

[5:30]  ² tn Heb “a womb or two for each man.” The words “to rape” are interpretive. The Hebrew noun translated “girl” means literally “womb” (BDB 933 s.v. I. רַחַם), but in this context may refer by extension to the female genitalia. In this case the obscene language of Sisera’s mother alludes to the sexual brutality which typified the aftermath of battle.

[5:30]  ³ tn Heb “the plunder of dyed cloth is for Sisera.”

[5:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “the plunder of embroidered cloth.”

[5:30]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes an emendation of the noun (“plunder”) to a participle, “plunderer.”

[8:21]  ⁶ tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:21]  ⁷ tn Or “Arise.”

[8:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”

[8:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “arose and killed.”

[8:26]  ¹¹ sn Seventeen hundred gold shekels would be about 42.7 pounds (19.4 kilograms) of gold.

[8:26]  ¹² tn Or “pendants.”

[8:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.”