OET interlinear JDG 9:28

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

מִֽי־אֲבִימֶ֤לֶךְ וּ⁠מִֽי־שְׁכֶם֙ כִּ֣י נַעַבְדֶ֔⁠נּוּ הֲ⁠לֹ֥א בֶן־יְרֻבַּ֖עַל וּ⁠זְבֻ֣ל פְּקִיד֑⁠וֹ

who? ʼAⱱīmelek and,who Shekem that/for/because/then/when serve,him ?,not son_of Yərubaˊal/(Jerubbaal) and,Zebul officer,his

Gaal is using the question form for emphasis. If a speaker of your language would not use the question form for that purpose, you could translate these questions as statements or exclamations. Alternate translation: “We should not serve Abimelek, even though he is from Shechem! After all, he is the son of Jerubbaal! And Zebul is just somebody he appointed.”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

מִֽי־אֲבִימֶ֤לֶךְ וּ⁠מִֽי־שְׁכֶם֙ כִּ֣י נַעַבְדֶ֔⁠נּוּ

who? ʼAⱱīmelek and,who Shekem that/for/because/then/when serve,him

Gaal is using the name Shechem by association to mean Abimelek, probably because Abimelek is from Shechem. Alternate translation: “Who is Abimelek? Who is this man from Shechem, that we should serve him?”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

מִֽי־אֲבִימֶ֤לֶךְ וּ⁠מִֽי־שְׁכֶם֙ כִּ֣י נַעַבְדֶ֔⁠נּוּ

who? ʼAⱱīmelek and,who Shekem that/for/because/then/when serve,him

The first two phrases mean basically the same thing. Gaal is referring to the same person by the names Abimelek and Shechem. However, there is a slight difference in meaning. The second phrase makes a mild concession, indicating that perhaps there is some basis to serve Abimelek, since he is from the city of Shechem and his mother is related to the people who live there. (In 9:3, the people of the city say of Abimelek, “He is our brother,” meaning “our kinsman.”) You may wish to indicate this in your translation. Alternate translation: “Why should we serve Abimelek, even though he is from Shechem?”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive

נַעַבְדֶ֔⁠נּוּ

serve,him

Gaal is using the pronoun we to refer to himself and his listeners, so use the inclusive form of that word if your language marks that distinction.

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

הֲ⁠לֹ֥א בֶן־יְרֻבַּ֖עַל

?,not son_of Yərubaˊal/(Jerubbaal)

Gaal is implicitly suggesting a reason why the people of Shechem should not serve Abimelek. His point is that Abimelek is the son of somebody outside their people group, an Israelite. Gaal may be using the name Jerubbaal instead of Gideon to make a further point, that Abimelek’s father opposed the worship of Baal, while the people of Shechem are devoted to Baal. You could indicate this explicitly in your translation if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: “He is the son of Jerubbaal, an Israelite who opposed the worship of Baal”

Note 6 topic: writing-participants

וּ⁠זְבֻ֣ל פְּקִיד֑⁠וֹ

and,Zebul officer,his

The author could have indicated in 9:22, when he briefly described Abimelek’s reign, that Abimelek appointed a man named Zebul as his deputy to govern Shechem whenever he was not present there. However, the author is instead reporting what Gaal said at this festival as a way of introducing Zebul as a new participant in the story. If this would not be clear to your readers, you could explain in a footnote that Zebul was a man whom Abimelek had appointed to govern Shechem whenever he himself was away from the city.

Note 7 topic: translate-names

וּ⁠זְבֻ֣ל

and,Zebul

The word Zebul is the name of a man.

Note 8 topic: translate-plural

עִבְד֗וּ אֶת־אַנְשֵׁ֤י חֲמוֹר֙

serve DOM men_of Ḩₐmōr

Gaal may be using the plural form men to indicate what the people of Shechem should regularly do. However, on this occasion, he means that they should serve a specific descendant of Hamor, their ancestor, instead of Abimelek. Alternate translation: “You should always be serving one of the descendants of Hamor” or “You should be serving a fellow descendant of Hamor instead”

Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

אֲבִ֣י שְׁכֶ֔ם

father_of Shekem

While a man named Hamor had literally been the father of a man named Shechem (Genesis 34:2), Gaal probably means that Hamor was the ancestor of the people who lived in Shechem. If it would be clearer in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “the founder of Shechem” or “the ancestor of the people of Shechem”

Note 10 topic: writing-pronouns

וּ⁠מַדּ֖וּעַ נַעַבְדֶ֥⁠נּוּ אֲנָֽחְנוּ

and,why serve,him we

For emphasis, Gaal is stating a pronoun whose meaning is already present in the verb translated serve. The ULT translates this stated pronoun with the intensive pronoun ourselves. Gaal seems to be drawing an explicit contrast between the people of Shechem and Abimelek in terms of ancestry. Alternate translation: “But why should we, who are descendants of Hamor, serve Abimelek, who is an Israelite?”

Note 11 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

וּ⁠מַדּ֖וּעַ נַעַבְדֶ֥⁠נּוּ אֲנָֽחְנוּ

and,why serve,him we

Gaal is using the question form for emphasis. If a speaker of your language would not use the question form for that purpose, you could translate this as a statement or as an exclamation. Alternate translation: “But we ourselves should not serve Abimelek!”