And they said to one another is literally “And each man said to his friend/neighbor.” Translators should find a natural way to express the reflexive meaning here. In many languages they can simply say “They asked one another” (New American Bible) or “They asked each other” (Good News Translation).

Who has done this thing? is a literal rendering of the Hebrew question. On a certain level this is a real question, asking for information, but on another level this question also expresses the people’s dismay and unhappiness at finding their place of worship destroyed. The Hebrew expression rendered this thing is quite emphatic. The word for thing can also mean “word,” “matter,” or “affair.” Here it refers to the whole situation that the townspeople found in the morning. They are not happy about the present state of affairs. Contemporary English Version renders this question well with “Who could have done such a thing?” Good News Translation has “Who did this?” We might also say “Who dared to do this?”

And after they had made search and inquired: This clause is an independent sentence in Hebrew, literally “And they inquired and searched.” The Hebrew verbs rendered made search (yedereshu) and inquired (yebaqeshu) sound alike and even rhyme, making the scene almost comical. The use of these two verbs shows emphasis, but if only one verb is available in the target language, translators might say “They searched and searched.” Contemporary English Version says “And they kept on asking.”

They said: The referent for the pronoun they is ambiguous. Does it refer to the people inquiring or to another set of people? Many versions think it refers to another group of people who respond to those who are inquiring. For example, Contemporary English Version says “until finally someone told them.” New Revised Standard Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh are similar with “they were told.” However, some versions think the pronoun refers to the people who are inquiring. If so, they said may be rendered “they said to each other” or “they concluded” (similarly NET Bible). This interpretation does not affect the story line and either interpretation seems acceptable.

Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing: Direct speech in Hebrew spells out clearly who did the act. The use of the full name Gideon the son of Joash seems to convey how upset the people are and how serious they think this crime is. This thing once again refers to the whole situation. Depending on the interpretation of the previous clause, we can use direct or indirect speech here. To underline the fact that the townspeople are outraged, we might say “It’s Joash’s son, Gideon, who did this horrible thing!”

Translation models for this verse are:

• Everybody asked each other, “Who could have dared to do such a thing?” They made inquiries all around, until someone finally told them, “It’s Joash’s son, Gideon, who did this!”

• Then they asked one another, “Who could have done such a thing?” They searched and searched and they finally concluded it was Gideon, Joash’s son, who had done this terrible thing.

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 .