Judges 8:5-6

8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give ¹  some loaves of bread to the men ²  who are following me, ³  because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 8:6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give ⁴  bread to your army?” ⁵ 

Judges 8:14-16

8:14 He captured a young man from Succoth ⁶  and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. ⁷  8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ⁸  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?’” ⁹  8:16 He seized the leaders ¹⁰  of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

² tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.

³ tn Heb “who are at my feet.”

⁴ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

⁵ tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your army bread?” Perhaps the reference to the kings’ “palms” should be taken literally. The officials of Succoth may be alluding to the practice of mutilating prisoners or enemy corpses (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 155).

sn The officials of Succoth are hesitant to give (or sell) food to Gideon’s forces because they are not sure of the outcome of the battle. Perhaps they had made an alliance with the Midianites which demanded their loyalty.

⁶ tn Heb “from the men of Succoth.”

⁷ tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”

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

⁹ tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”

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.

¹⁰ tn Heb “elders.”

¹¹ tc The translation follows the reading of several ancient versions (LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) in assuming the form וַיָּדָשׁ (vayyadash) from the verb דּוֹשׁ (dosh, “thresh”) as in v. 7. The MT reads instead the form וַיֹּדַע (vayyoda’, “make known”), a Hiphil form of יָדַע (yadah). In this case one could translate, “he used them [i.e., the thorns and briers] to teach the men of Succoth a lesson.”