Judges 8:12

8:12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon ¹  chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised ²  their entire army.

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 8:15

8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ⁵  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?’” ⁶ 

Judges 8:21

8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ⁷  “Come on, ⁸  you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” ⁹  So Gideon killed ¹⁰  Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:7

8:7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, ¹¹  after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh ¹²  your skin ¹³  with ¹⁴  desert thorns and briers.”

Judges 8:18

8:18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me ¹⁵  the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.” ¹⁶ 

Judges 16:23

Samson’s Death and Burial

16:23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.”

Judges 8:5

8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give ¹⁷  some loaves of bread to the men ¹⁸  who are following me, ¹⁹  because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

[8:12]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ² tn Or “routed”; Heb “caused to panic.”

[8:6]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

[8:6]  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).

[8:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”

[8:21]  ⁷ tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:21]  ⁸ tn Or “Arise.”

[8:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”

[8:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “arose and killed.”

[8:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[8:7]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Or “flesh.”

[8:7]  ¹² 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.

[8:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Where are?”

[8:18]  ¹² tn Heb “each one like the appearance of sons of the king.”

[8:5]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

[8:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.

[8:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “who are at my feet.”