Judges 6:4

6:4 They invaded the land ¹  and devoured ²  its crops ³  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ⁴  and they took away ⁵  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Judges 6:11

Gideon Meets Some Visitors

6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger ⁶  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ⁷  was threshing ⁸  wheat in a winepress ⁹  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ¹⁰ 

[6:4]  ¹ tn Heb “They encamped against them.”

[6:4]  ² tn Heb “destroyed.”

[6:4]  ³ tn Heb “the crops of the land.”

[6:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”

[6:4]  ⁵ tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:11]  ⁶ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

[6:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.

[6:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “beating out.”

[6:11]  ⁹ sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.

[6:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Midian.”