He had forty sons and thirty grandsons … is literally “And it was to him forty sons and thirty sons of sons….” This verse begins in the same way as verse 12.9 (see comments there). Abdon had even more children than the judges before him. The Hebrew word for sons can refer to children in general, but male descendants are probably in focus here. The numerals forty, thirty and seventy have symbolic value, reflecting Abdon’s social status and power. The number seventy is, of course, the sum of forty sons and thirty grandsons. This numeral also played a key role in the stories of Gideon and his son Abimelech (see, for example, verse 8.30; verse 9.2).

Who rode on seventy asses means that each child and grandchild rode on a donkey. This was an important sign of wealth in Old Testament times (see verse 10.4). Contemporary English Version omits the word seventy, but this number is an important literary feature, so it should be kept.

And he judged Israel eight years: Elon, the minor judge between Ibzan and Abdon, was a leader in Israel for the longest of the three (ten years), while Abdon led Israel one year longer than Ibzan and two years longer than Jephthah. The Hebrew phrase rendered eight years (shemoneh shanim) adds poetic flavor to this account.

A translation model for this verse is:

• He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, and each of the seventy had his own donkey to ride. Abdon led Israel for eight years.

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 .