OET interlinear JDG 9:18

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

וְ⁠אַתֶּ֞ם קַמְתֶּ֨ם עַל־בֵּ֤ית אָבִ⁠י֙ הַ⁠יּ֔וֹם וַ⁠תַּהַרְג֧וּ אֶת־בָּנָ֛י⁠ו שִׁבְעִ֥ים אִ֖ישׁ עַל־אֶ֣בֶן אֶחָ֑ת וַ⁠תַּמְלִ֜יכוּ אֶת־אֲבִימֶ֤לֶךְ בֶּן־אֲמָת⁠וֹ֙ עַל־בַּעֲלֵ֣י שְׁכֶ֔ם כִּ֥י אֲחִי⁠כֶ֖ם הֽוּא

and,you_all risen_up on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in house_of father's,my the=day and,killed DOM sons,his seventy (a)_man on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in stone one and,made_~_king DOM ʼAⱱīmelek son_of slave_woman,his on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in masters Shekem that/for/because/then/when relative,your_all's he/it

The word translated as but shows that in this verse, Jotham is drawing a contrast between the way the lords of Shechem should implicitly have treated Gideon and what they actually did to his descendants. In your translation, introduce this contrast in a way that is natural in your language. Since this contrasting material is supplemental to the if-then condition that Jotham develops over the course of verses 16–19, you may want to use punctuation to set it apart in some way, such as by setting it off with dashes, as the ULT does, or by putting it in parentheses.

Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-condition-hypothetical

וְ⁠אַתֶּ֞ם קַמְתֶּ֨ם עַל־בֵּ֤ית אָבִ⁠י֙ הַ⁠יּ֔וֹם וַ⁠תַּהַרְג֧וּ אֶת־בָּנָ֛י⁠ו שִׁבְעִ֥ים אִ֖ישׁ עַל־אֶ֣בֶן אֶחָ֑ת וַ⁠תַּמְלִ֜יכוּ אֶת־אֲבִימֶ֤לֶךְ בֶּן־אֲמָת⁠וֹ֙ עַל־בַּעֲלֵ֣י שְׁכֶ֔ם כִּ֥י אֲחִי⁠כֶ֖ם הֽוּא

and,you_all risen_up on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in house_of father's,my the=day and,killed DOM sons,his seventy (a)_man on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in stone one and,made_~_king DOM ʼAⱱīmelek son_of slave_woman,his on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in masters Shekem that/for/because/then/when relative,your_all's he/it

If you have decided to translate the long sentence in verses 16–19 as a series of shorter sentences, you could make this verse a sentence of its own. You may wish to state some implicit ideas explicitly for the sake of continuity. Alternate translation: “But you have not treated my father and his family fairly. Instead, today you have arisen against them and have killed his sons, 70 men upon one stone, and you have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, reign over the lords of Shechem because he is your brother.”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

קַמְתֶּ֨ם

risen_up

Jotham is using the word arisen within a common expression in which it ordinarily describes subjects revolting against their rulers. In 8:23, Gideon refused to become king and to have his son and grandson be kings after him, so the lords of Shechem did not literally revolt against the rule of Gideon’s family. Jotham’s point may be that if anyone were to be their king, it should have been Gideon’s legal heirs (just as the olive tree, fig tree, and grapevine would have made better kings than the thornbush), so in that sense making Abimelek king was a revolt against those who should have been accepted as authorities. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “have revolted”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

בֵּ֤ית

house_of

See how you translated the term house in 9:16. Alternate translation: “the descendants of”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

בֶּן־אֲמָת⁠וֹ֙

son_of slave_woman,his

The author says in 8:31 that Abimelek’s mother was Gideon’s “concubine.” This means that she was a legal but secondary wife whose children did not have inheritance rights. While female slaves sometimes did become the concubines of their masters, not every concubine was a female slave. Abimelek’s mother seems to have come from a family of standing in Shechem; Gideon may have married her as a concubine rather than as a full wife because she was a foreigner, from the surviving Canaanite population of Shechem. So Jotham is disparaging her by calling her a female slave. His main point seems to be that Abimelek has no rights of inheritance and thus no claim to become king. (Unfortunately Gideon suggested otherwise when he named this son Abimelek, meaning “my father is king.”) You could bring out this emphasis in your translation if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: “who has no rights of inheritance and so no claim to become king as Gideon’s son”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

אֲחִי⁠כֶ֖ם

relative,your_all's

See how you translated the term brother in 9:3. Alternate translation: “is your kinsman”