Footnotes

1. Judges 8:1 tn Heb “by not summoning us.”
2. Judges 8:2 tn Heb “gleanings.”
3. Judges 8:2 sn Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest. Gideon employs an agricultural metaphor. He argues that Ephraim’s mopping up operations, though seemingly like the inferior grapes which are missed initially by the harvesters or left for the poor, are actually more noteworthy than the military efforts of Gideon’s family.
4. Judges 8:3 tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”
5. Judges 8:3 tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”
6. Judges 8:4 tn Heb “And Gideon arrived at the Jordan, crossing over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted and chasing.” The English past perfect (“had crossed”) is used because this verse flashes back chronologically to an event that preceded the hostile encounter described in vv. 1-3. (Note that 7:25 assumes Gideon had already crossed the Jordan.)
7. Judges 8:5 tn Or perhaps, “sell.”
8. Judges 8:5 tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.
9. Judges 8:5 tn Heb “who are at my feet.”
10. Judges 8:6 tn Or perhaps, “sell.”
11. Judges 8:6 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 Sukkoth may be alluding to the practice of mutilating prisoners or enemy corpses (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 155).sn The officials of Sukkoth 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.
12. Judges 8:7 tn Heb “Therefore.”
13. Judges 8:7 sn I will thresh. The metaphor is agricultural. Threshing was usually done on a hard threshing floor. As farm animals walked over the stalks, pulling behind them a board embedded with sharp stones, the stalks and grain would be separated. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63-65. Gideon threatens to use thorns and briers on his sledge.
14. Judges 8:7 tn Or “flesh.”
15. Judges 8:7 tn This is apparently a rare instrumental use of the Hebrew preposition אֵת (ʾet, note the use of ב [bet] in v. 16). Some, however, argue that אֵת more naturally indicates accompaniment (“together with”). In this case Gideon envisions threshing their skin along with thorns and briers, just as the stalks and grain are intermingled on the threshing floor. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 229-30.
16. Judges 8:8 tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”
17. Judges 8:8 tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Sukkoth answered.”
18. Judges 8:9 tn Heb “said to.” The translation “threatened” is interpretive, but is clearly indicated by the context.
19. Judges 8:9 tn Heb “saying.”
20. Judges 8:9 tn Or “safely.” Heb “in peace.”
21. Judges 8:10 tn Heb “About 15,000 [in number] were all the ones remaining from the army of the sons of the east. The fallen ones were 120,000 [in number], men drawing the sword.”
22. Judges 8:11 tn Heb “the ones living in tents.”
23. Judges 8:11 tc Heb “and attacked the army, while the army was secure.” The Hebrew term בֶטַח (vetakh, “secure”) may means the army was undefended (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 156), not suspecting an attack at that time and place. A few mss supported by the LXX read the participle form from the same root, בֹטֵחַ (voteakh) “trustingly,” the implication being that they were not attentive to defense.
24. Judges 8:12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25. Judges 8:12 tn Or “routed”; Heb “caused to panic.”
26. Judges 8:13 tn Or “ascent.”
27. Judges 8:14 tn Heb “from the men of Sukkoth.”
28. Judges 8:14 tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Sukkoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”
29. Judges 8:15 tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
30. Judges 8:15 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 Sukkoth.
31. Judges 8:16 tn Heb “elders.”
32. Judges 8:16 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 דּוּשׁ (dush, “thresh”) as in v. 7. The MT reads instead the form וַיֹּדַע (vayyodaʿ, “make known”), a Hiphil form of יָדַע (yadaʿ). In this case one could translate, “he used them [i.e., the thorns and briers] to teach the men of Sukkoth a lesson.”
33. Judges 8:18 tn Heb “Where are?”
34. Judges 8:18 tn Heb “each one like the appearance of sons of the king.”
35. Judges 8:19 tn The words “I swear” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
36. Judges 8:20 tn Or “Arise!”
37. Judges 8:20 tn Heb “did not draw his sword for he was afraid.”
38. Judges 8:21 tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
39. Judges 8:21 tn Or “Arise.”
40. Judges 8:21 tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”
41. Judges 8:21 tn Heb “arose and killed.”