The storyteller has Gideon and his servant creeping along the edge of the Midianite camp. But to build suspense, he stops to describe the camp. Its soldiers are numerous like a swarm of locusts, and its camels are as abundant as the grains of sand on a beach. This verse is a kind of aside, but most versions let the text flow from the previous verse.

And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts for multitude: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may be translated “Now” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) to introduce the background information here. For the Midianites, see verse 6.1; for the Amalekites, see verse 3.13; and for the people of the East, see verse 6.3. Lay renders the Hebrew verb that normally means “fall” (nafal). It is a verb that is often used in this book to refer to the defeat of the enemy, as they “lay” dead (see verse 3.25; verse 4.22). Though the Midianites and their allies are not yet defeated, this verb describes them scattered all over the Jezreel Valley, and seems to foreshadow their defeat. We can use any appropriate verb, such as “covered” or “spread out.” For the valley, see verse 7.1. For the Hebrew phrase rendered like locusts for multitude, see the comments on verse 6.5, where it is translated “like locusts for number.”

And their camels were without number may be rendered “and their camels were too numerous to count.” See the comments on verse 6.5.

As the sand which is upon the seashore for multitude: The storyteller now adds yet another comparison, a common Old Testament expression to indicate great numbers (see, for example, Gen 22.17; verse 11.4; verse 1 Sam 13.5). This comparison directly follows the description of the camels that cannot be counted. But since this is poetic language, this clause could also describe the enemy in general. The sand which is upon the seashore refers to the tiny particles that are found on the side of a river or an ocean. Even a handful of sand can contain hundreds of particles, so the sand which is upon the seashore would refer to thousands and thousands of particles—too many to count. Some cultures may be more familiar with the sand of a desert or on a riverbed, and since this is a figure of speech, such a substitution can be made. Translators should look for an idiomatic expression to express this comparison. In English sand is a collective word, without a plural marker, but some languages will have a plural word “sands.” The phrase for multitude occurs here for the second time in this verse. As in verse 6.5, it is not an easy expression to translate and Revised Standard Version‘s rather literal rendering is not natural in English. We might say “as numerous as the sands on the seashore” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). In some languages an ideophone can express the idea of multitude.

The purpose of the two comparisons in this verse is to emphasize how vast the enemy forces are in comparison to Gideon’s very small group of soldiers. These comparisons add to the suspense and repeat the theme that Yahweh alone is responsible for any Israelite victory.

Translation models for this verse are:

• The troops of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the other eastern tribes filled the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels were so numerous they could not be counted. They were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

• The armies of Midian, Amalek, and the rest of the eastern desert covered the valley. They were spread out like locusts, and their camels were so many, like the sands on the side of a river.

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 .