Judges 6:32

6:32 That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

Judges 8:7

8:7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, ²  after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh ³  your skin ⁴  with ⁵  desert thorns and briers.”

Judges 9:57

9:57 God also repaid the men of Shechem for their evil deeds. The curse spoken by Jotham son of Jerub-Baal fell ⁶  on them.

Judges 11:25

11:25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them? ⁷ 

Judges 15:8

15:8 He struck them down and defeated them. ⁸  Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.

[6:32]  ¹ tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub-Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight!”

[8:7]  ² tn Heb “Therefore.”

[8:7]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “flesh.”

[8:7]  ⁵ 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.

[9:57]  ³ tn Heb “came.”

[11:25]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew grammatical constructions of all three rhetorical questions indicate emphasis, which “really” and “dare to” are intended to express in the translation.

[15:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “He struck them, calf on thigh, [with] a great slaughter.” The precise meaning of the phrase “calf on thigh” is uncertain.