And Gaal the son of Ebed went out: And renders the Hebrew waw conjunction. Contemporary English Version begins with “The next morning,” which is a good model. Once again the long phrase Gaal the son of Ebed is used, certainly drawing attention to this man and mocking the person who thinks he is in control of Shechem. There is a shift in focus away from Abimelech to Gaal, so a new paragraph can begin here as in Contemporary English Version. Went out renders the same key Hebrew verb as in verse 9.33. Though the text says Gaal went out, the next clause shows he did not go far from the city walls.

And stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: The town of Shechem, like many ancient towns, had walls around it for protection against attack. The town gate consisted of a large structure in the wall with an inner and outer gate. Between the two gates there was an entrance that was like a large house with several rooms on each side. It was the only way in and out of the town. Excavations around the ancient site of Shechem show such a structure. An illustration at this point would help the reader understand what the situation was. In many languages it will be unnecessary to speak of both the entrance and the gate, so we might say “the gateway of the town” or “the entrance to the town.” The city is Shechem. Gaal stood in the gateway, but the text does not say why he was there. Did he suspect someone was planning an attack or was he planning to lead his own men out to battle? This may express his hesitancy or fear, and as such it may foreshadow his upcoming defeat. Abimelech and Zebul are expecting Gaal and his men to come out of the gateway, but they do not even get that far.

And Abimelech and the men that were with him rose from the ambush: Abimelech and his men came out of hiding to attack. Once again the men that were with him is literally “the people who [were] with him” (see verse 9.32). Rose renders the key Hebrew verb qum. Here it may convey the quickness of this surprise attack, but also expresses some irony, since this hero (or anti-hero) “rises” to defend the cause of Israel. The Hebrew word for ambush comes from the same root as the verb rendered “men in ambush” in verse 9.25. We might say “came out from their hiding places.” Abimelech probably expected that Gaal and his men would rush out to attack him and then the other groups of Abimelech’s men who were hiding nearby would rush into the undefended city, but curiously this does not happen.

A translation model for this verse is:

• The next morning Gaal came out of the city and stood by the gate, and as he did so, Abimelech and his men jumped out of their hiding places.

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 .