1 tn Heb "and all the people who were with him."

2sn The name Harod means, ironically, "trembling."

3tn Heb "Midian." The LXX reads "and Amalek" (cf. v. 12; 6:33).

4tn Heb "the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand."

5tn Heb "might glorify itself against me."

6tn Heb "my hand has delivered me."

7tn Heb "call into the ears of the people."

8tn Heb "afraid and shaking."

9tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading "and leave Mount Gilead" for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, "So Gideon tested them" (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).

10tn Heb "people." The translation uses "men" because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)

11tn Or "turned around, back."

12tn Heb "too many people."

13tn Heb "test them for you there."

14tn Heb "he should go with you."

15tn Heb also has "to you."

16tn Heb "he should not go."

17tn Heb "the people."

18tn Heb "Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, put him by himself, as well as the one who gets down on his knees to drink."

19tc The Hebrew text adds, "with their hands to their mouths," This makes no sense in light of v. 5, which distinguishes between dog-like lappers (who would not use their hands to drink) and those who kneel (who would use their hands). It seems likely that the words "with their hands to their mouths" have been misplaced from v. 6. They fit better at the end of v. 5 or v. 6. Perhaps these words were originally a marginal scribal note which was later accidentally inserted into the text in the wrong place.

20tn Heb "the people."

21tn Heb "you." The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.

22tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.

23tn Heb "All the people should go, each to his place."

24tn Heb "The people."

25tn The words "who were chosen" are supplied in the translation for clarification.

26tn The Hebrew text has "in their hands."

27tn Heb "he"; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

28tn Heb "tents."

29tn Heb "Midian."

30tn The Hebrew text adds "him" (i.e., Gideon).

31tn Heb "him"; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

32tn Heb "Go down against."

33tn The Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, emphasizing the certainty of the promise.

34tn Heb "your hands will be strengthened."

35tn Heb "to the edge of the ones in battle array who were in the camp."

36tn Heb "Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east were falling in the valley like locusts in great number."

37tn Heb "And Gideon came, and, look, a man was relating to his friend a dream."

38tn Heb "he"; the referent (the man mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

39tn Heb "Look!" The repetition of this interjection, while emphatic in Hebrew, would be redundant in the English translation.

40tn Heb "It came to the tent and struck it and it fell. It turned it upside down and the tent fell."

41tn Heb "answered and said."

42tn Heb "This can be nothing but."

43tn Heb "he bowed down" or "worshiped."

44tn Heb "heads."

45tn Heb "the jars." The noun has been replaced by the pronoun ("them") in the translation for stylistic reasons.

sn They hid the torches inside the earthenware jars to disguise their approach and to keep the torches from being extinguished by the breeze.

46tn Or "look."

47tn Heb "Gideon went, along with the hundred men who were with him, to the edge of the camp."

48tn Heb "that were in their hands."

49tn The Hebrew text adds, "in order to blow [them]." This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

50tn Heb "each in his place."

51tn Or "fled."

52tn Heb "the Lord set the sword of each one against his friend."

53tc MT has "and throughout the camp," but the conjunction ("and") is due to dittography and should be dropped. Compare the ancient versions, which lack the conjunction here.

54tn The words "they went" are supplied in the translation for clarification.

55tn Heb "Midian."

56tn Heb "to meet Midian."

57tn Heb "capture before them the waters."

58tn The word "River" is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).

59tn Heb "And all the men of Ephraim were summoned."

60tn Heb "they captured the waters."

61sn The names Oreb and Zeeb, which mean "Raven" and "Wolf" respectively, are appropriate because the Midianites had been like scavengers and predators to Israel.

62tn The Hebrew text repeats the verb "executed." This has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

63tn Heb "Midian."

64tn Heb "beyond the Jordan." The word "River" is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity (also in 8:4).