The singers now widen their call, encouraging the leaders of all peoples to listen to what the LORD has done.
Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes: These first two lines are parallel, as in the previous verse. In Hebrew they both begin with imperatives followed by vocative nouns. The verbs rendered Hear and give ear are a standard word pair in Hebrew that occur regularly in this fixed order (compare Psalm 49.1; verse 143.1). Hear renders a Hebrew verb (shamaʿ) that occurs often in the narrative introductory material of Judges (verse 2.2, 17, 20), where sadly the people do not “listen” or “obey” the LORD. The key verb shamaʿ appears in the crucial call in Deut 6.4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” In this context it clearly means “listen.” Give ear renders a Hebrew verb derived from the word for “ear.” Here it reinforces the verb Hear. We can say “Listen carefully” or “Pay attention” (Good News Translation). Some languages have idiomatic expressions, such as “Throw your ears,” which renders the Hebrew well. To maintain the parallelism and poetry, translators should try to find two different expressions for Hear and give ear.
Kings and princes refer to two types of rulers, often occurring in parallel lines or in pairs in Hebrew (see, for example, Prov 8.15). The Hebrew word for kings is melek, also used to refer to King Eglon and King Jabin (see comments on verse 1.7). The Hebrew word for princes refers to others in command, usually with less status than a king. Contrary to its use in English, the Hebrew term does not refer to the sons of a king, but to other “rulers” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version). Some languages have words to refer to nobles or people under the king who carry out his orders. Revised Standard Version adds O, a particle that does not occur in Hebrew, to show that kings and princes are vocative nouns. Translators should use forms that are natural in their language. Some may want to follow Good News Translation, which makes explicit “you kings” and “you rulers.”
The Israelites have no kings at this point (verse 17.6; verse 18.1; verse 19.1; verse 21.25), so the singers are calling out to Canaanite or other foreign kings. There may be irony here, since enemy kings who do not know Yahweh are being called upon to listen to the exploits of God’s greatness and his victory over them. However, this call is common in the book of Psalms.
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 .