Shìshījì 7:5

5 Jīdiàn jiù daì tāmen xià dào shuǐ páng . Yēhéhuá duì Jīdiàn shuō , fán yòng shétou tiǎn shuǐ , xiàng gǒu tiǎn de , yào shǐ tā dān zhàn zaì yī chù . fán guì xià hē shuǐ de , yĕ yào shǐ tā dān zhàn zaì yī chù .

Shìshījì 7:5 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:5

So he brought them down to the water
] His whole army of 10,000 men:

and the Lord said unto Gideon, everyone that lappeth of the water with
his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shall thou set by himself;
this has led some, as particularly Grotius, to think of the Egyptian dogs; of whom Aelianus relates ^F2, that they do not drink at once freely, and to satiety, being afraid of the crocodiles in the river; but run about the bank, and by stealth snatch a little here and a little there, and so satisfy themselves: but the allusion here is to dogs in common, whose usual way it is not to sup in, and drink a drought, but by putting out their tongues to lick and lap water with them, as Aristotle

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 says all creatures do that have teeth like saws; and the likeness between the drinking of these men, to be observed lay not in anything else but in the single action of lapping; for they first took the water in the hollow of their hands, out of the stream, and then lapped it, as in ( Judges 7:6 ) whereas a dog does not and cannot take water that way; and this lapping was standing upright, whereas dogs in common, as Aelianus in the same place suggests, bow themselves, and lap as much water as will satisfy their thirst; and by this these men were distinguished from those that bowed on their knees to drink; for had they not taken up water in their hands, they must have bowed down on their knees to have lapped, as well as those did, to sup it, or take in a large draught of it; now all those that thus lapped were to be set apart by themselves; but whether they were to go with Gideon or not, as yet he knew not: likewise everyone that boweth down on his knee to drink; were to be set by themselves also, but which of those were to go with him is after related.

F2 Var. Hist. l. 1. c. 4.
F3 Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 6.

Shìshījì 7:5 In-Context

3 Xiànzaì nǐ yào xiàng zhèxie rén xuāngào shuō , fán jùpà dǎnqiè de , kĕyǐ líkāi Jīliè shān huí qù . yúshì yǒu èr wàn èr qiā rén huí qù , zhǐ shèngxia yī wàn .

4 Yēhéhuá duì Jīdiàn shuō , rén háishì guō duō . nǐ yào daì tāmen xià dào shuǐ páng , wǒ hǎo zaì nàli wè nǐ shì shì tāmen . wǒ zhǐ diǎn shuí shuō , zhè rén kĕyǐ tóng nǐ qù , tā jiù kĕyǐ tóng nǐ qù . wǒ zhī diǎn shuí shuō , zhè rén bùkĕ tóng nǐ qù , tā jiù bùkĕ tóng nǐ qù .

5 Jīdiàn jiù daì tāmen xià dào shuǐ páng . Yēhéhuá duì Jīdiàn shuō , fán yòng shétou tiǎn shuǐ , xiàng gǒu tiǎn de , yào shǐ tā dān zhàn zaì yī chù . fán guì xià hē shuǐ de , yĕ yào shǐ tā dān zhàn zaì yī chù .

6 Yúshì yòng shǒu pĕng zhe tiǎn shuǐ de yǒu sān bǎi rén , qíyú de dōu guì xià hē shuǐ .

7 Yēhéhuá duì Jīdiàn shuō , wǒ yào yòng zhè tiǎn shuǐ de sān bǎi rén zhĕngjiù nǐmen , jiāng Mǐdiàn rén jiāo zaì nǐ shǒu zhōng . qíyú de rén dōu kĕyǐ gè guī gè chù qù .