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Judges 8:21

in Judges 8

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us; for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels’ necks.

KJV

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.

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This verse in Judges 8

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
The ornaments - See marg. and compare Isa 3:18. The custom of adorning the necks of their camels with gold chains and ornaments prevailed among the Arabs so late as the time of Mahomet.

This site's exposition

So he said to Jether, his firstborn

on Judges 8:20-21

Gideon lays the execution on his firstborn, making the boy an avenger of blood, and Jether "did not draw his sword". The kings ask Gideon to strike them himself, "for as the man is, so is his strength", asking to fall by a soldier's hand. The "crescent ornaments" are moon shapes worn as jewellery, and Isaiah 3:18 lists them among the finery taken from Zion's daughters.

This site's exposition

as the man is, so is his strength

Matthew Henry gives two readings of the proverb. The kings may mean that their own strength needs a grown man's hand to end quickly, or that Gideon is at full strength where Jether has not yet come to it. Albert Barnes adds that Arabs still hung gold on the necks of their camels in the time of Muhammad.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Either they mean it of themselves (they were men of such strength as called for a better hand than that young man's to overpower quickly) or of Gideon, "Thou art at thy full strength; he has not yet come to it; therefore be thou the executioner." From those that are grown up to maturity, it is expected that what they do in any service be done with so much the more strength.
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, rise thou and fall upon us,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise, thou, and fall upon us - It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a child; and the death occasioned by the blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have even employed children to despatch captives. Civilis, a Roman knight, headed a revolt of the Gauls against Rome, in the year of the city 824. Of him Tacitus says, Hist. lib. iv., c. 61: Ferebatur parvulo filio quosdam captivorum sagittis jaculisque puerilibus figendos obtulisse: “He is said to have given to his little son some prisoners, as butts to be shot at with little darts and arrows.” This was for their greater torment and dishonor; and to inure his child to blood! Could any thing like this have been the design of Gideon? The ornaments that were on their camels’ necks. - The heads, necks, bodies, and legs of camels, horses, and elephants, are highly ornamented in the eastern countries, and indeed this was common, from the remotest antiquity, in all countries. Virgil refers to it as a thing long before his time, and thus describes the horses given by King Latinus to the ambassadors of Aeneas. - Aen. lib. vii., ver. 274. Haec effatus equos numero pater eligit omni. Stabant tercentum nitidi in praesepibus altis: Omnibus extemplo Teucris jubet ordine duci Instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis. Aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent: Tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum. “He said, and order’d steeds to mount the band: In lofty stalls three hundred coursers stand; Their shining sides with crimson cover’d o’er; The sprightly steeds embroider’d trappings wore, With golden chains, refulgent to behold: Gold were their bridles, and they champ’d on gold.” Pitt. Instead of ornaments, the Septuagint translate τους μηνισκους, the crescents or half-moons; and this is followed by the Syriac and Arabic. […]

The words behind it

23 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֜אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • זֶ֣בַחZebah

    zevachH2078 →12 times

  • וְצַלְמֻנָּ֗עand Zalmunna

    vetzalmuna'H6759 →12 times

  • ק֤וּםarise

    kumH6965 →628 times

  • אַתָּה֙you

    ʾatahH859 →1094 times

  • וּפְגַע־and fall

    ufega'-H6293 →46 times

  • בָּ֔נוּon <the> us

    banu

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • כָאִ֖ישׁ[is] like the man

    khaishH376 →1663 times

  • גְּבוּרָת֑וֹstrength his

    gevuratoH1369 →

  • וַיָּ֣קָםand he arose

    vaiyakomH6965 →628 times

  • גִּדְע֗וֹןGideon

    gidonH1439 →39 times

  • וַֽיַּהֲרֹג֙and he killed

    vaiyaharogH2026 →167 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • זֶ֣בַחZebah

    zevachH2078 →12 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • צַלְמֻנָּ֔עZalmunna

    tzalmuna'H6759 →12 times

  • וַיִּקַּח֙and he took

    vaiyikachH3947 →966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַשַּׂ֣הֲרֹנִ֔יםthe ornaments

    hasaharonimH7720 →

  • אֲשֶׁ֖רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בְּצַוְּארֵ֥י[were] on [the] necks of

    betzavereiH6677 →42 times

  • גְמַלֵּיהֶֽם׃camels their

    gemaleihemH1581 →54 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

12 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 3:18In that day the Lord will take away their finery: their anklets and headbands and crescents;5 worksPsalms 83:11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,4 worksJudges 8:26The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels.3 worksRevelation 9:6In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.2 works1 Samuel 31:3When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically.2 worksPsalms 83:1O God, be not silent; be not speechless; be not still, O God.2 works
The other 6 cross-references, with their words ▾
Judges 9:54He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So Abimelech’s armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died.2 works1 Samuel 31:5When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him.2 worksJudges 15:12But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”2 worksJudges 6:5For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.2 worksJeremiah 49:29They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’2 worksJoshua 10:26After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Revelation 9:6

    In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.

    it leads to

    • Luke 23:30

      At that time ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

    • Jeremiah 8:3

      And wherever I have banished them, the remnant of this evil family will choose death over life,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

    • Revelation 6:16

      And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

    • Isaiah 2:19

      Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

    • Hosea 10:8

      The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall…

  • Through

    Psalms 83:11

    Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

    it leads to

    • Judges 7:25

      They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. So they pursued the Midianites and brought…

    • Judges 8:12–21

      When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army.

  • Through

    Judges 8:26

    The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 18:12

      cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;

About Judges

Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Judges: the study guide →Read Judges 8 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Judges 8 →