complete verse (Judges 11:33)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 11:33:

  • Kupsabiny: “He defeated those Ammonites completely from Minnith to Aroer. He took cities up to Abel-keramim until they all reached twenty. So, the Israelites destroyed the Ammonites completely.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He destroyed about 20 cities from Aroer up to Minnith and Abel-keramim.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They defeated the Ammonhon, and they killed very many. They put-under- (their) -jurisdiction/subjected the 20 towns from Aroer towards the surrounding of Minit up-to Abel Keramim.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Jephthah and his men killed them, from Aroer city all the way to the area around the city of Minnith. They destroyed 20 cities, as far as the city of Abel Keramim. So the Israelis completely defeated the Ammon people-group.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Judges 11:33

More details of Jephthah’s victory are given here.

And he smote them … with a very great slaughter: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may be omitted (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). The pronoun he probably refers to Jephthah rather than the LORD. Throughout this narration Jephthah, the Israelite leader, is in focus, but obviously he was accompanied by many men, who helped him defeat the Ammonites, as made explicit in Contemporary English Version: “Jephthah and his army.” The verb for smote and the noun for slaughter come from the same Hebrew root meaning “strike” (see comments on verse 1.4, where it is rendered “defeated”). We might say “Jephthah conducted a massive slaughter of the Ammonites….”

From Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith is literally “from Aroer until you come to Minnith.” For Aroer see verse 11.26. Minnith is an unknown location, but we might say “from the town of Aroer to the area around the town of Minnith.” Jephthah’s victory was great, since he captured twenty cities between these two towns and as far as Abel-keramim (literally “and up to Abel-keramim”). Abel-keramim is another unknown town, but all these towns were probably along the border between Israel and Ammon.

Good News Translation puts the principal information about the great slaughter of the Ammonites near the end of the verse, preferring to list the defeated towns first. This may be a helpful model for some languages.

So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel means the Israelites defeated the Ammonites. So, which renders the Hebrew waw conjunction, introduces this clause as a final comment. Another possible connector is “In this way” (New Living Translation). For were subdued, see verse 3.30. As the narrator draws to a conclusion, the victory belongs not just to Jephthah, but also to the people of Israel (literally “the sons/children of Israel”). This passive clause can be made active by saying “So the Israelites subdued/defeated the Ammonites.” However, the narrator uses this passive construction to give credit to the LORD (compare verse 4.23). So other possible models are “So Yahweh helped the Israelites defeat the Ammonites” and “Thus God defeated the Ammonites for/before Israel.”

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 .