Hakim-hakim 8:7-15

8:7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, ¹  after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh ²  your skin ³  with ⁴  desert thorns and briers.” 8:8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. ⁵  The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. ⁶  8:9 He also threatened ⁷  the men of Penuel, warning, ⁸  “When I return victoriously, ⁹  I will tear down this tower.”

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. ¹⁰  8:11 Gideon went up the road of the nomads ¹¹  east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army. ¹²  8:12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon ¹³  chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised ¹⁴  their entire army.

8:13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the pass ¹⁵  of Heres. 8:14 He captured a young man from Succoth ¹⁶  and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. ¹⁷  8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ¹⁸  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?’” ¹⁹ 

[8:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[8:7]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “flesh.”

[8:7]  ⁴ 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.

[8:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”

[8:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.”

[8:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “said to.” The translation “threatened” is interpretive, but is clearly indicated by the context.

[8:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

[8:9]  ⁹ tn Or “safely.” Heb “in peace.”

[8:10]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[8:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the ones living in tents.”

[8:11]  ¹² tn Heb “and attacked the army, while the army was secure.” The Hebrew term בֶטַח (vetakh, “secure”) probably means the army was undefended (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 156), not suspecting an attack at that time and place.

[8:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “routed”; Heb “caused to panic.”

[8:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or “ascent.”

[8:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the men of Succoth.”

[8:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”

[8:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:15]  ¹⁹ 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.