Gaal continues his speech here. Though the first part of this verse seems to give wishful thinking, many interpreters think that Gaal’s threat in the final clause is real.

Would that this people were under my hand! is an older English form, expressing a wish. This clause is a rhetorical question in Hebrew, which is literally “And who will give this people into my hand?” This people refers to the people of Shechem. Under my hand is the common Hebrew idiom for being under the control of a person. Since hand is a keyword in this book, it would be good to keep it in translation if possible. If not, Good News Translation provides a good model for this clause with “I wish I were leading this people!” In many languages a conditional “If” statement may be used. For example, Revised English Bible has “If only this people were in my charge.” Contemporary English Version is similar with “If I were the ruler of Shechem.”

Then I would remove Abimelech: Here Gaal says what he would do if he ruled the Shechemites. Gaal boastfully claims that he would remove Abimelech from his position of power. Translators should use verb forms that can be used to express such a wish. The Hebrew verb rendered remove literally means “turn aside” or “put aside.” In this context it means “overthrow” or “topple.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version say “get rid of” Abimelech, but this rendering could be understood by some to mean he would kill him. Removing him from power seems to be the real meaning here.

I would say to Abimelech: There is a textual problem here. The Masoretic Text reads “and he said to Abimelech,” but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives this a {C} rating. Thus many versions follow the Septuagint, which has “and I would say to Abimelech” (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). However, many French versions (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, La Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) and some commentators follow the Masoretic Text. Translators must make a choice here. It is possible to put one reading in the text and note the variant in a footnote, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The generic Hebrew verb rendered say may be translated “challenge” in this context.

Increase your army, and come out: Gaal shows his contempt for Abimelech here. By calling on Abimelech to gather more troops, Gaal is saying that Abimelech’s troops are not enough to defeat him. The Hebrew verb rendered Increase means “reinforce” here. The Hebrew verb translated come out (yatsaʾ) is part of the military vocabulary in this book (see comments on verse 1.24 and verse 2.15), here meaning “come out to fight.” For this whole sentence Contemporary English Version has “Get yourself an even bigger army, and we will still defeat you.” This rendering adds an extra clause, but it seems to capture the tone of Gaal’s statement.

If the whole verse is considered wishful thinking on the part of Gaal, Good News Translation is a good model to follow. However, if translators decide to follow the Hebrew, they could render the last half of this verse as follows:

• So Gaal challenged Abimelech, “Find yourself some more troops, and come out to fight!”

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 .