Judges 6:4
And pitching their tents among them, wasted all things as they were in the blade even to the entrance of Gaza: and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses.
Open Judges 6:4 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et apud eos figentes tentoria, sicut erant in herbis cuncta vastabant usque ad introitum Gazæ : nihilque omnino ad vitam pertinens relinquebant in Israël, non oves, non boves, non asinos.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ κατέφθειραν τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῶν ἕως ἐλθεῖν εἰς Γάζαν, καὶ οὐ κατέλιπον ὑπόστασιν ζωῆς ἐν τῇ γῇ Ἰσραὴλ οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς ποιμνίοις ταῦρον καὶ ὄνον.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיַּחֲנ֣וּ עֲלֵיהֶ֗ם וַיַּשְׁחִ֨יתוּ֙ אֶת יְב֣וּל הָאָ֔רֶץ עַד בּוֹאֲךָ֖ עַזָּ֑ה וְלֹֽא יַשְׁאִ֤ירוּ מִֽחְיָה֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְשֶׂ֥ה וָשׁ֖וֹר וַחֲמֽוֹר
Haydock's commentary
Blade. Hebrew, "the increase of the earth." They waited till the corn was almost ripe, and what they could not carry off they destroyed. (Calmet)
It seems they had allowed Gedeon time to gather in some corn, (ver. 11.) and other Israelites would seize their opportunity, and perhaps cut the corn before it was perfectly ripe, which the Vulgate may insinuate by mentioning the blade.
Gaza. They ravaged the whole country from east to west. (Haydock)
This method of warfare is, in effect, more cruel than any other.
Asses. They left no cattle, nor animals that they could take, wherewith the Isrealites might cultivate the earth. (Calmet)
In the extremity of famine, the flesh of asses would have been used to sustain life, as the text insinuates. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.