The narrator continues to give many details concerning the ambush and the attack on the Benjaminites of Gibeah. Revised Standard Version begins this part of the explanation with the word Now, which renders the Hebrew waw conjunction. Translators should use an appropriate expression to introduce the background information here.
The appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that …: The Hebrew word rendered appointed signal usually refers to something that is agreed upon, such as a time or a place to meet. Only here in the Old Testament does it refer to a prearranged signal. For the men of Israel and the men in ambush, see verse 20.33. Good News Translation begins this verse well with “The main Israelite army and the men in hiding had arranged a signal….” ver GNTver*’s use of the past perfect tense here in English shows that this is background information. Another possible model is “The main Israelite army and the ambushers had agreed upon a sign…” or “There was an agreement/arrangement between the main Israelite army and the ambushers that….”
When they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city is literally “make big for them to raise up a rising of the smoke from the city.” This seems to be a direct quote of what the signal was to be. The Hebrew verb for “make big” is imperative, but in many versions it is better to cast this clause as an indirect command, as in New International Version (“they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city”), or as a temporal clause, as in Revised Standard Version. The pronoun they refers to the ambushers. There is no direct reference to a great cloud in Hebrew, but this phrase expresses well what the signal was. This “smoke signal” was probably connected to the Israelites’ setting the town of Gibeah on fire. Evidently, the plan was that once the Benjaminite soldiers had been enticed away from the city, the ambushers would attack and then begin to burn the town. The smoke would indicate to the main Israelite army that it should turn to attack the Benjaminite soldiers who had ventured out of their town. At the sight of the smoke, the Benjaminites would not only be disheartened, but would also know they had no place to flee. Made … rise up renders a causative form of the Hebrew verb ʿalah meaning “go up,” which is used often to describe a military attack in this book (see verse 1.1). It is also the root for the word meaning “burnt offering,” which appeared in verse 20.26. NET Bible renders this clause as “When the men hiding in ambush sent up a smoke signal from the city,” and Good News Translation says “When they saw a big cloud of smoke going up from the town.”
Translation models for this verse are:
• Now the main Israelite army and the ambushers had agreed that when the army would see a large cloud of smoke rising from the city….
• Now the arrangement had been made between the main Israelite soldiers and those hiding in ambush that when the ambushers sent up a smoke signal from the city….
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 .