Judges 6:30-32

6:30 The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so we can execute him! ¹  He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.” 6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ²  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ³  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ⁴  will die by morning! ⁵  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ⁶  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ⁷  6:32 That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ⁸  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

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¹ tn Heb “and let him die.” The jussive form with vav after the imperative is best translated as a purpose clause.

² tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

³ tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

⁴ tn Heb “fights for him.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Heb “fight for himself.”

⁷ 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).

⁸ tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub-Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight!”