Hakim-hakim 7:2-3

7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. ¹  Israel might brag, ²  ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ ³  7:3 Now, announce to the men, ⁴  ‘Whoever is shaking with fear ⁵  may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” ⁶  Twenty-two thousand men ⁷  went home; ⁸  ten thousand remained.

Hakim-hakim 8:15

8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ⁹  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?’” ¹⁰ 

[7:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand.”

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “might glorify itself against me.”

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “my hand has delivered me.”

[7:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”

[7:3]  ⁶ tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading “and leave Mount Gilead” for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, “So Gideon tested them” (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)

[7:3]  ⁸ tn Or “turned around, back.”

[8:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”

[8:15]  sn Gideon changes their actual statement (see v. 6) by saying exhausted men rather than “army.” In this way he emphasizes the crisis his men were facing and highlights the insensitivity of the men of Succoth.