Judges 8:3

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Judges 8:3 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Judges 8:3 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/judges/8/3.

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God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    God has given into your hand the commanders of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb! So what was I able to do like you?” Then their spirit abated toward him, upon him speaking this word.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger against him subsided.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger against him subsided.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    God hath delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    God hath delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    God hath deliuered into your handes the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? and when he had thus spoken, then their spirits abated toward him.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    The Lord hath delivered into your bands the princes of Madian, Oreb and Zeb: what could I have done like to what you have done? And when he had said this, their spirit was appeased, with which they swelled against him.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    Into your hand hath God given the heads of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what have I been able to do like you?' Then their temper desisted from off him in his speaking this thing.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    God has given the heads of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hand; and what have I been able to do like you?” Then their temper desisted from off him in his speaking this thing.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    God has given you victory over the princes of Midian—Oreb and Zeeb! What have I accomplished compared to you?” Their anger toward him died down when he said this.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    God has given into your hand the commanders of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb! So what was I able to do like you?” Then their spirit abated toward him, upon him speaking this word.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    God has given into your hands the princes of Mid'ian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger against him was abated, when he had said this.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb! What was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then, when he had said that, their anger towards him abated.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two Midianite commanders. What have I managed to achieve in comparison to you?” When he told them this their animosity towards him died down.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    God has given into your hands the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you? And when he said this, their feeling about him became kinder.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    God hath delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?' Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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זְאֵ֔ב
Zᵉʼêb
H2062
“Zeeb”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: the same as H2061

TWOT: None

Zeeb = "wolf" - one of the two princes of Midian mentioned in the conquest; brought to bay in a winepress
  1. בְּיֶדְכֶם֩ yâd H3027 “in/at · hand · your” Preposition + Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural
  2. נָתַ֨ן nâthan H5414 “to give” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  3. אֱלֹהִ֜ים ʼĕlôhîym H430 “God(s)” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  4. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  5. שָׂרֵ֤י sar H8269 “princes of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct
  6. מִדְיָן֙ Midyân H4080 “Midian” Noun, Proper
  7. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  8. עֹרֵ֣ב ʻÔrêb H6159 “Oreb” Noun, Proper
  9. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  10. וּמַה mâh H4100 “and · what” Conjunction + Particle, Interrogative
  11. יָּכֹ֖לְתִּי yâkôl H3201 “to prevail” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  12. עֲשׂ֣וֹת ʻâsâh H6213 “to do” Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct
  13. אָ֗ז ʼâz H227 “then” Adverb
  14. רָפְתָ֤ה râphâh H7503 “to relax” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  15. רוּחָם֙ rûwach H7307 “spirit · their” Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  16. מֵֽעָלָ֔יו ʻal H5921 “from · upon · him” Preposition + Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  17. בְּדַבְּר֖וֹ dâbar H1696 “in/at · to speak · him” Preposition + Verb, Piel, Infinitive Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  18. הַדָּבָ֥ר dâbâr H1697 “the · word” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  19. הַזֶּֽה zeh H2088 “the · this” Particle, Definite Article + Pronoun, Demonstrative, Masculine, Singular

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

21
words
18
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is זְאֵ֔ב Zeeb H2062 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

זְאֵ֔ב Zeeb H2062 occurs in 3 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 5 verbs
  • 8 nouns
  • 1 pronoun
  • 2 prepositions
  • 1 adverb
  • 4 particles

Verb forms

  • נָתַ֨ן Qal · Perfect
  • יָּכֹ֖לְתִּי Qal · Perfect
  • עֲשׂ֣וֹת Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • רָפְתָ֤ה Qal · Perfect
  • בְּדַבְּר֖וֹ Piel · Infinitive Construct

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 36 words from the Hebrew and 35 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 21 Hebrew tokens and 33 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

13

Topical passages linked to Judges 8:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
  • Judges 7:24–25 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take before them the waters, as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan.
  • Psalms 44:3 For they didn't get the land in possession by their own sword, Neither did their own arm save them; But your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your face, Because you were favorable to them.
  • Psalms 115:1 Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, But to your name give glory, For your loving kindness, and for your truth's sake.
  • Psalms 118:14–16 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation.
  • Proverbs 16:32 One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; One who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.
  • Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken Is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
  • Proverbs 25:15 By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone.
  • John 4:37 For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'
  • Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.
  • Romans 12:6 Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;
  • Romans 15:18–19 For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
  • Philippians 2:3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Judges 8:3 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

בְּיֶדְכֶם֩ נָתַ֨ן אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת שָׂרֵ֤י מִדְיָן֙ אֶת עֹרֵ֣ב וְאֶת זְאֵ֔ב וּמַה יָּכֹ֖לְתִּי עֲשׂ֣וֹת כָּכֶ֑ם אָ֗ז רָפְתָ֤ה רוּחָם֙ מֵֽעָלָ֔יו בְּדַבְּר֖וֹ הַדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה

God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Judges 8:3 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐν χείρ σύ παραδίδωμι κύριος ὁ ἄρχων μαδιαμ ὁ ωρηβ καί ὁ ζηβ καί τίς δύναμαι ποιέω ὡς σύ τότε ἀναἵημι ὁ πνεῦμα αὐτός ἀπό αὐτός ἐν ὁ λαλέω αὐτός ὁ λόγος οὗτος

The Lord has delivered into your hand the princes of Madiam, Oreb and Zeb; and what could I do in comparison of you? Then was their spirit calmed toward him, when he spoke this word.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

1

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    בְּיֶדְכוֹן מְסַר יְיָ יַת רַבְרְבֵי מִדְיָן יַת עוֹרֵב וְיַת זְאֵב וּמַה יְכֵלִית לְמֶעְבַּד כְּוַתְכוֹן בְּכֵן נָחִת רוּחֵיהוֹן מִנֵיהּ בְּמַלָלוּתֵיה פִּתְגָמָא הָדֵין:

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Judges 8:3 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jdg 8:3 God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.

Ver. 3. And what was I able to do in comparison of you?] He knew them to be ambitious, and therefore he doth little less than ascribe the victory to them. Yet he saith not, You have done all, and I little or nothing: for then they would have thought he had jeered them. Only he immindeth them of entitling God to all their achievements, when he saith here "God hath delivered into your hands," &c. This, these proud persons perhaps thought not of.

Then their anger was abated.] As it might well enough: for, like the waters of Shiloah at the foot of Zion, {Isa 8:6} which run softly, he made but small noise, though he heard great words.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Jdg 8:3. Then their anger was abated — According to that fine maxim of Solomon, “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 3. Then their anger was abated] A soft answer turneth away wrath. He might have said that he could place but little dependence on his brethren when, through faint-heartedness, 22,000 left him at one time; but he passed this by, and took a more excellent way.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Then their anger was abated towards him.—The soft answer turned away wrath (Pro_15:1). The word for anger is mach, “wind,” or “spirit”—anger expressed by fierce breathing through the nostrils, “the blast of the terrible ones” (Isa_25:4). (Comp. Ecc_10:4 : “If the spirit (ruach) of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.”) “Gideon’s good words were as victorious as his sword.”—Bp. Hall.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb,.... A high honour this conferred upon you, and with which you may be well contented:

and what was I able to do in comparison of you? what he had done in defeating and pursuing the army of Midian, in slaying and taking any of them prisoners, was nothing in comparison of what they had done; nay, he signifies that he was not capable of doing anything worth mentioning without them; the glory of finishing this conquest was reserved for them:

then their anger was abated towards him when he had said that; it being what gratified their pride and was pleasing to them; and this conduct of Gideon showed him to be a wise and humble man.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

His soft and humble answer allayed their rage and envy. See Pro 15:1; 25:15.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Was abated - His soft and humble answer allayed their rage.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

What could I have done that would have been as significant as your accomplishments?

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Judges, in the Historical, opens this verse with 21 words (18 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Zᵉʼêb (“Zeeb”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. The word Zᵉʼêb carries the sense “Zeeb.” How does it shape the verse?
  2. How does Judges 7:25, which shares the word «Zeeb», read alongside this verse?
  3. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  4. «נָתַ֨ן» is a Qal Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  5. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Old Testament edition

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