Gideon goes on to explain in plain language what he said in figurative speech. However, he adds that God is the one who gave the Ephraimites their special victory. Evidently Gideon’s flattery is effective, since their anger subsides.

God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: Gideon wants to flatter his hearers so he tries to underline the fact that it is God who has given them the victory. The use of the generic Hebrew word for God (ʾelohim) is surprising, since Gideon and the Ephraimites know and worship Yahweh (compare verse 7.14). Nevertheless, translators should follow the original text. For has given into your hands, see verse 1.2. Once again the keyword hand is used in the description of an Israelite victory. The word rendered into your hands is in focus at the beginning of this sentence in Hebrew. Contemporary English Version begins this sentence well with “God chose you to capture….” For the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, see verse 7.25.

What have I been able to do in comparison with you? is literally “What was I able to do like you?” This rhetorical question is similar to the one in verse 8.2. Here Gideon has added the Hebrew verb meaning “can” or “be able,” which seems to make the question more emphatic. Once again we can maintain the question or express it as a strong statement by saying “What I did is nothing in comparison with what you did!”

Then their anger against him was abated, when he had said this: Gideon succeeds in appeasing the Ephraimites’ anger by playing on their sense of pride. This clause is introduced by a Hebrew conjunction (ʾaz) stronger than the typical waw connector. Then or “Thus” is an appropriate rendering. Their anger against him was abated is literally “their spirit sank/relaxed from him.” This idiomatic expression may be rendered “their anger with him died down” (New Jerusalem Bible), “their anger against him subsided” (New American Bible), “they calmed down” ( NET Bible), or “they stopped being angry.” The Hebrew clause rendered when he had said this has a play on words that involves the Hebrew root d-b-r, which was mentioned in verse 8.1. Here the root occurs twice as follows: “when he spoke (d-b-r) the word (d-b-r) this.” In many languages it will be more natural to put this temporal clause at the beginning of the sentence. For example, Good News Translation says “When he said this, they were no longer so angry.”

Translation models for this verse are:

• God delivered Oreb and Zeeb, those two important Midianite leaders, into your hands! What I have done is nothing compared with what you have done!” When he said this, the Ephraimites calmed down and were no longer angry.

• God chose you to kill the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I done to compare with that?” When the Ephraimites heard these words, their anger died down.

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .