5:11 Hear 1 the sound of those who divide the sheep 2 among the watering places;
there they tell of 3 the Lord’s victorious deeds,
the victorious deeds of his warriors 4 in Israel.
Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –
6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger 5 came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon 6 was threshing 7 wheat in a winepress 8 so he could hide it from the Midianites. 9
7:24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. 26 Take control of the fords of the streams 27 all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” 28 When all the Ephraimites had assembled, 29 they took control of the fords 30 all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.
1 tn The word “Hear” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. Some translate “those who distribute the water” (HALOT 344 s.v. חצץ pi). For other options see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 246-47.
3 tn Or perhaps “repeat.”
4 tn See the note on the term “warriors” in v. 7.
5 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.
sn The
6 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.
7 tn Heb “beating out.”
8 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.
9 tn Heb “Midian.”
10 tn Possibly “in a row” or “in a layer,” perhaps referring to the arrangement of the stones used in the altar’s construction.
11 tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”
12 tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”
13 tn Heb “fights for him.”
14 sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.
15 tn Heb “fight for himself.”
16 tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).
17 tn Heb “too many people.”
18 tn Heb “test them for you there.”
19 tn Heb “he should go with you.”
20 tn Heb also has “to you.”
21 tn Heb “he should not go.”
22 tn Heb “And Gideon came, and, look, a man was relating to his friend a dream.”
23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
24 tn Heb “Look!” The repetition of this interjection, while emphatic in Hebrew, would be redundant in the English translation.
25 tn Heb “It came to the tent and struck it and it fell. It turned it upside down and the tent fell.”
26 tn Heb “to meet Midian.”
27 tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”
28 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).
29 tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”
30 tn Heb “they captured the waters.”
31 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the rest [of the Benjaminites]) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
32 tn Heb “and they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
33 tn Heb “gleaned.” The word is an agricultural term which pictures Israelites picking off the Benjaminites as easily as one picks grapes from the vine.
34 tn Heb “stuck close after them.”