When they blew the three hundred trumpets is literally “And they blew the three hundred trumpets,” again with Revised Standard Version casting an independent clause as a subordinate time clause. The pronoun they refers to the 300 Israelite soldiers. Each soldier supposedly blew his own trumpet (see verse 7.18). In most languages it will be more natural to speak of the 300 men blowing the trumpets, rather than saying the 300 trumpets were blown by them. For example, New Living Translation has “When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns.” This clause repeats the first clause of verse 7.20, so it poses a problem for interpreters. Contemporary English Version believes they blew their trumpets a second time, so it says “and blew their trumpets again.” New American Bible has “But the three hundred men kept blowing the horns.” However, like Revised Standard Version, most other versions see this clause as a reference back to the first action. For example, Good News Translation says “While Gideon’s men were blowing their trumpets” (similarly Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and New International Version has “When the 300 trumpets sounded.” For these versions this clause repeats what happened in verse 7.20, ending with the account of the enemy running away. Given the importance of this event in Israel’s history and Hebrew’s love of repetition, this seems a likely interpretation.
The LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow …: The rest of this verse describes in greater detail what was recounted in verse 7.21 at the high point of this story. It makes it clear that Gideon was not the one responsible for the victory in this battle, but rather the LORD. The Israelites had no weapons and they were hopelessly outnumbered, but they managed to be victorious because of what Yahweh did. This clause reads literally “and the LORD put sword [each] man against/upon his comrade,” meaning the LORD caused the Midianites to panic and to attack each other in the darkness. The verb set may be rendered “caused” (New International Version) or “made” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). The word sword is used figuratively earlier in this section (verse 7.14, 20), but here it probably refers to a physical weapon. Man and fellow both refer to the Midianite soldiers. Fellow renders the same Hebrew word translated “comrade” in verse 7.13. Contemporary English Version expresses the scene well: “the LORD made the enemy soldiers pull out their swords and start fighting each other.” Another possible model is “the LORD caused the Midianites to attack each other with their swords.”
And against all the army is literally “and against/upon all the camp.” This phrase seems to be redundant, but emphasizes the complete confusion that reigned in the Midianite camp. Good News Translation omits it by rendering the whole clause as “the LORD made the enemy troops attack each other with their swords.” However, New International Version retains it by saying “the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.”
And the army fled is literally “and the camp fled” (see comments on verse 7.21). The Midianites who were not killed by their fellow soldiers ran away from the scene. Good News Translation says simply “They ran” to avoid the repetition of the army.
As far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath: The precise location of the fleeing Midianite troops is given here, though today the exact geography is uncertain. Two locations are introduced by the Hebrew preposition rendered as far as. The repetition of this preposition emphasizes how far the enemy went to escape the Israelites. Beth-shittah (meaning “house of the acacia tree”) was probably a town in the Jordan Valley. This town was toward or in the general direction of the town of Zererah. Instead of Zererah, some Hebrew manuscripts have “Zeredah,” which is the preferred reading of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. Both these names may be variant spellings for “Zarethan” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), which was another town in the Jordan Valley (see verse 1 Kgs 7.46). The Hebrew word for border is rendered “seashore” in verse 7.12, but here it means “edge,” so Contemporary English Version speaks of “the edge of the land that belonged to the town of Abel-Meholah.” Abel-meholah (meaning “field of the dance”) was another town in the Jordan Valley, probably on the eastern side. It was by or located near the town of Tabbath. There is a possibility that these names present a wordplay meant to mock the Midianites, since most of them end in –ah.
Translation models for this verse are:
• When the three hundred Israelites blew their trumpets, Yahweh caused the Midianite soldiers to attack one another with their swords. Then they all ran away, fleeing as far as the town of Beth-shittah, toward Zeredah, and all the way to the edge of the town of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
• When the Israelites blew their three hundred trumpets, the LORD made the Midianites attack each other with their swords throughout the camp and then they ran away. Some fled as far as Beth-shittah, a town on the way to Zeredah, while others fled as far as the boundary of the town of Abel-meholah, near Tabbath.
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 .