Adoni-bezek fled: The Hebrew text here begins with a waw conjunction omitted in Revised Standard Version, but there are several possible renderings for it depending on the way the clauses are combined. It is possible to say “The soldiers of Judah fought against Adoni-bezek, but he fled.” However, some may want to omit the conjunction here and use a contrastive conjunction “but” later in the verse (“Adoni-bezek fled but they pursued him”). Many versions choose to omit the initial waw.

Here the name Adoni-bezek refers to the leader himself, rather than to him and his army. Instead of staying with his troops and dying, he fled or simply “ran away.” The repetition of this name may be the narrator’s way of mocking the leader’s cowardice. This is the first, but not the last time, an enemy of Israel flees (see verse 4.15; verse 7.21; verse 8.12). Because the Israelites eventually caught him, Contemporary English Version says “The king tried to escape.”

But they pursued him, and caught him: But renders the Hebrew waw conjunction, which expresses a counter-expectation here. By fleeing, the king hoped to escape, but the Israelite soldiers captured him. They pursued him is literally “they followed after him.” Several versions say “they chased him” (Good News Translation, New International Version). Caught renders an unusual Hebrew verb, used in other contexts to refer to grabbing onto something, such as the branches of a tree. Most versions simply say “caught,” but New Jerusalem Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh use “captured.” In some languages a word such as “grabbed” might be the best equivalent. In light of what follows, they evidently grabbed him and held him down.

And cut off his thumbs and his great toes: Once the soldiers of Judah had captured the king of Bezek, they cut off his thumbs and big toes. This action of hacking off these body parts is not only a cruel and painful punishment, it is also a sign that the king is now their subject. Without thumbs it would have been impossible for him to hold a weapon or any other tool, and without big toes, it would be difficult for him to walk and impossible to run. Thumbs will be easy to render in most languages. Great toes refers to what are commonly known in English as “big toes.” Interestingly, in Hebrew the words for thumbs and great toes are the same. Thus his thumbs and his great toes is literally “thumbs of his hands and his feet.” Translators should look for a natural way of expressing these ideas in their language.

Good News Translation renders this verse as “He ran away, but they chased him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.” This way of chaining the clauses is similar to the Hebrew and expresses well the excitement of the pursuit and quickness of the action.

We can translate this verse as follows:

• The king of Bezek fled, but the warriors of Judah chased him, caught him and held him down. Then they cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

• Adoni-bezek tried to escape but was caught. And then, the soldiers of Judah cut off his thumbs and big toes.

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 .