Judges 9:28

9:28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? ¹  Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech? ² 

Judges 9:30

9:30 When Zebul, the city commissioner, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he was furious. ³ 

Judges 9:36

9:36 Gaal saw the men ⁴  and said to Zebul, “Look, men are coming down from the tops of the hills.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows on the hills – it just looks like men.” ⁵ 

Judges 9:41

9:41 Abimelech went back ⁶  to Arumah; Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem. ⁷ 

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¹ tn Heb “and Zebul his appointee.”

² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abimelech) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “his anger burned.”

⁴ tn Heb “the people” (also in vv. 38, 43, 48). These were warriors, so “men” has been used in the translation, since in ancient Israelite culture soldiers would have been exclusively males.

⁵ tn Heb “the shadow on the hills you are seeing, like men.”

⁶ tc Heb “stayed.” Some scholars revise the vowel pointing on this verb from that of the MT, resulting in the translation “and he returned to.” The Lucianic recension of the LXX understands the word in this way.

⁷ tn Heb “drove…out from dwelling in Shechem.”