Judges 8:15

8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ¹  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?’” ² 

Judges 8:21

8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ³  “Come on, ⁴  you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” ⁵  So Gideon killed ⁶  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, ⁷  after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh ⁸  your skin ⁹  with ¹⁰  desert thorns and briers.”

Judges 8:18

8:18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me ¹¹  the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.” ¹² 

Judges 8:5

8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give ¹³  some loaves of bread to the men ¹⁴  who are following me, ¹⁵  because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

Judges 8:10

8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed. ¹⁶ 

[8:15]  ¹ tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:15]  ² tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”

[8:21]  ³ tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:21]  ⁴ tn Or “Arise.”

[8:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”

[8:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “arose and killed.”

[8:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[8:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “flesh.”

[8:7]  ⁸ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “Where are?”

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

[8:5]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

[8:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.

[8:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who are at my feet.”

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “About fifteen thousand [in number] were all the ones remaining from the army of the sons of the east. The fallen ones were a hundred and twenty thousand [in number], men drawing the sword.”