Judges 8:25

25 They replied, "We're glad to give them to you." They spread out a robe, and each man threw in the earrings from his booty.

Judges 8:25 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 8:25

And they answered, we will willingly give them
Or, "in giving we will give" ^F4; give them with all their hearts, most freely and cheerfully:

and they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings
of his prey;
every man one, which would amount to no more than three hundred; though perhaps those who joined in the pursuit might take many more, or otherwise the weight of them would not amount to what in the next verse they are said to weigh.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Ntn Nwtn) "dando dabimus", Pagninus, Montanus.

Judges 8:25 In-Context

23 Gid'on replied, "Neither I nor my son will rule over you; ADONAI will rule over you."

24 Then he added, "But I have this request to make of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from the booty you have taken." For the enemy soldiers had worn gold earrings, like all the other tribes descended from Yishma'el.

25 They replied, "We're glad to give them to you." They spread out a robe, and each man threw in the earrings from his booty.

26 The gold earrings he requested weighed more than forty-two pounds; and this doesn't include the crescents, pendants and purple cloth worn by the kings of Midyan and the chains around their camels' necks.

27 Out of these things Gid'on made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, 'Ofrah. But all Isra'el turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gid'on and his family.