2:14 The Lord was furious with Israel 1 and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. 2 He turned them over to 3 their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. 4
5:31 May all your enemies perish like this, O Lord!
But may those who love you shine
like the rising sun at its brightest!” 15
And the land had rest for forty years.
6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger 16 came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon 17 was threshing 18 wheat in a winepress 19 so he could hide it from the Midianites. 20
15:18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant 32 this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?” 33
1 tn Or “The
2 tn Heb “robbers who robbed them.” (The verb שָׁסָה [shasah] appears twice in the verse.)
sn The expression robbers who plundered them is a derogatory reference to the enemy nations, as the next line indicates.
3 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
4 tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
5 tn Or “The
6 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
7 tn Or “Cushan the Doubly Wicked.”
8 tn Or “they served Cushan-Rishathaim.”
9 tn Or “honor.”
10 tn Heb “on [account of (?)] the way which you are walking.” Another option is to translate, “due to the way you are going about this.” In this case direct reference is made to Barak’s hesitancy as the reason for his loss of glory.
11 tn Heb “for into the hands of a woman the
12 tn Or “caused to panic.”
13 tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “before Barak.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Heb “got down from.”
15 tn Heb “But may those who love him be like the going forth of the sun in its strength.”
16 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.
sn The
17 tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.
18 tn Heb “beating out.”
19 sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.
20 tn Heb “Midian.”
21 tn Heb “men from among his servants.”
22 tn Heb “house.”
23 tn Heb “so he did it at night.”
24 tn Heb “the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand.”
25 tn Heb “might glorify itself against me.”
26 tn Heb “my hand has delivered me.”
27 tn Heb “the people.”
28 tn Heb “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, put him by himself, as well as the one who gets down on his knees to drink.”
29 tn Heb “you.” The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.
30 tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.
31 tn Heb “All the people should go, each to his place.”
32 tn Heb “you have placed into the hand of your servant.”
33 tn Heb “the uncircumcised,” which in context refers to the Philistines.
34 tn Heb “are upon you.”
35 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
36 tn Heb “and said.”
37 tn Heb “I will go out as before.”
38 tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.
39 tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”
41 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.