And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah: Once again the narrator uses full noun phrases to indicate who is speaking to whom. Translators can imitate the Hebrew style or use reduced forms. Given the content of the speech here, translators may want to say more specifically “Then the elders swore to Jephthah” or “Then the leaders took an oath, saying.”

The LORD will be witness between us is literally “Yahweh will be a listener between us” (compare Gen 31.44). A witness is normally a person who watches two parties make an agreement and can later confirm this agreement was made. Here the elders speak of the LORD for the first time, and they call upon him to be a witness to their agreement. This clause in Hebrew can also be understood as a wish, so a possible rendering is “Let the LORD be a witness between us,” which may be more appropriate in this context. An alternative model is “The LORD has heard what we have said.”

We will surely do as you say is literally “if we do not do so according to your words.” This is a conditional sentence that omits the consequence. The implied consequence would be a punishment, which might need to be made explicit in some languages (see second model below). Revised Standard Version gives another possible rendering.

Good News Translation reverses the two clauses in this speech by saying “We agree. The LORD is our witness,” as does Contemporary English Version: “You have our word …And the LORD is a witness to what we have said.”

Translation models for this verse are:

• The leaders replied, “The LORD is our witness. We promise to do what you say.”

• The elders promised him, “May Yahweh be our witness and may he punish us if we do not do what we say we will do.”

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 .