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30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives.[a] 31 His concubine,[b] who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech.[c] 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very[d] old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 8:30 tn Heb “Gideon had seventy sons who went out from his thigh, for he had many wives.” The Hebrew word יָרֵךְ (yarekh, “thigh”) is a euphemism here for the penis.
  2. Judges 8:31 sn A concubine was a slave woman in ancient Near Eastern societies who was the legal property of her master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with her master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).
  3. Judges 8:31 sn The name Abimelech means “my father is king.”
  4. Judges 8:32 tn Heb “good.”