Judges 9:8

9:8 “The trees were determined to go out ¹  and choose a king for themselves. ²  They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ ³ 

Judges 9:15

9:15 The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose ⁴  me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches! ⁵  Otherwise ⁶  may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

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¹ tn Heb “Going they went, the trees.” The precise emphatic force of the infinitive absolute (“Going”) is not entirely clear. Perhaps here it indicates determination, as in Gen 31:30, where one might translate, “You have insisted on going away.”

² tn Heb “to anoint [with oil] over them a king.”

³ tn Or “Rule over us!”

⁴ tn Heb “are about to anoint [with oil].”

⁵ tn Heb “in my shade.”

⁶ tn Heb “If not.”