Gideon finally gives some details of his plan.

When I blow the trumpet renders an independent clause in Hebrew, which is literally “And I will blow on the trumpet.” See the comments on verse 3.27. In some languages blow will be rendered “breathe,” but translators will use the most natural expression in their language. In Hebrew the word for trumpet is preceded by a preposition that could mean “on,” “through,” “against,” or “with,” but of course, translators should simply use the most natural expression for blowing a trumpet in their language. In some contexts blowing the trumpet calls people together for worship, but here it is a signal for battle. The 300 Israelite soldiers cannot see Gideon since it is night, so they must depend on this signal to know when to act. Since Gideon will be blowing his own trumpet, we might say “When you hear me blow my trumpet.” Contemporary English Version makes the idea of a signal explicit by saying “Then wait for me to blow a signal on my trumpet.” Some languages may say “I am going to blow on my trumpet. When you hear the sound.”

I and all who are with me indicates that Gideon is to lead one group of soldiers and the other two groups are to follow. The Hebrew pronoun for I is emphatic. Gideon emphasizes that everyone must follow his lead. Good News Translation begins this verse with “When my group and I blow our trumpets….”

Then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp is the instruction given to the other two groups of warriors. The Hebrew is literally “and you also shall blow on the trumpets surrounding all the camp.” The Hebrew pronoun for “you” is plural. We might say “then you blow your trumpets also, all around the enemy camp.”

And shout: Although the Hebrew simply reads “say,” it is clear that in the context the sense is shout. This is the rendering that appears in almost every English version. We could also say “cry out” (New American Bible).

For the LORD and for Gideon is a battle cry to rally the troops. Battle cries are normally very brief, and translators may have to reflect on how to express such a cry in their language. For renders a Hebrew preposition that can mean “for,” “for the benefit of,” “to,” “belonging to,” “dedicated to,” or even “by.” The cry here seems to suggest that the Israelite warriors acknowledge the part that Yahweh plays in their fight. This cry may be a way of proclaiming or celebrating the upcoming victory, so it may be rendered “Victory belongs to Yahweh and Gideon.” It is also possible that this battle cry is a vow to fight for the LORD and Gideon: “We fight for Yahweh and for Gideon.” Contemporary English Version uses an imperative: “Fight for the LORD! Fight for Gideon!”

Translation models for this verse are:

• When you hear me and all those with me blow our trumpets, then you blow yours too, all around their camp. Shout, ‘Victory belongs to Yahweh and to Gideon.’ ”

• When my group and I blow our trumpets, then you also must blow yours around their whole camp, and cry out, ‘We fight for Yahweh and for Gideon.’ ”

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 .