Judges 9:30

9:30 When Zebul, the city commissioner, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he was furious. ¹ 

Judges 9:41

9:41 Abimelech went back ²  to Arumah; Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem. ³ 

Judges 9:36

9:36 Gaal saw the men ⁴  and said to Zebul, “Look, men are coming down from the tops of the hills.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows on the hills – it just looks like men.” ⁵ 

Judges 9:38

9:38 Zebul said to him, “Where now are your bragging words, ⁶  ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men ⁷  you insulted? ⁸  Go out now and fight them!”

[9:30]  ¹ tn Heb “his anger burned.”

[9:41]  ² tc Heb “stayed.” Some scholars revise the vowel pointing on this verb from that of the MT, resulting in the translation “and he returned to.” The Lucianic recension of the LXX understands the word in this way.

[9:41]  ³ tn Heb “drove…out from dwelling in Shechem.”

[9:36]  ³ tn Heb “the people” (also in vv. 38, 43, 48). These were warriors, so “men” has been used in the translation, since in ancient Israelite culture soldiers would have been exclusively males.

[9:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “the shadow on the hills you are seeing, like men.”

[9:38]  ⁴ tn Heb “is your mouth that says.”

[9:38]  ⁵ tn Heb “the people.”

[9:38]  ⁶ tn Or “despised.”