Judges 1:7

New Living Translation

Adoni-bezek said, "I once had seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off, eating scraps from under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them." They took him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Update Bible Version
And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table: as I have done, so God has repaid me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

English Revised Version
And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

New Century Version
Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings whose thumbs and big toes had been cut off used to eat scraps that fell from my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them." The men of Judah took Adoni-Bezek to Jerusalem, and he died there.

New English Translation
Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up food scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them." They brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Adoni-bezek said, seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table; as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

World English Bible
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Amplified Bible
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather up scraps of food under my table; as I have done [to others], so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Adonybozech seide, Seuenti kyngis, whanne the endis of hondis and feet weren kit awey, gaderiden relifs of metis vndur my bord; as Y dide, so God hath yolde to me. And thei brouyten hym in to Jerusalem, and there he diede.

Young's Literal Translation
and Adoni-Bezek saith, `Seventy kings -- their thumbs and their great toes cut off -- have been gathering under my table; as I have done so hath God repaid to me;' and they bring him in to Jerusalem, and he dieth there.

Berean Standard Bible
Then Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

Contemporary English Version
and he said, "I've cut off the thumbs and big toes of seventy kings and made those kings crawl around under my table for scraps of food. Now God is paying me back." The army of Judah took the king of Bezek along with them to Jerusalem, where he died.

American Standard Version
And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Bible in Basic English
And Adoni-zedek said, Seventy kings, whose thumbs and great toes had been cut off, got broken meat under my table: as I have done, so has God done to me in full. And they took him to Jerusalem, and he came to his end there.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Adonibezek sayde, Three score and ten kinges hauing their thombes & great toes cut of, gathered their meate vnder my table: As I haue done, so God hath done to me agayne. And they brought him to Hierusalem, and there he died.

Complete Jewish Bible
Adoni-Bezek said: "Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their big toes cut off, gathered food under my table; God has paid me back in accordance with what I did." They brought him to Yerushalayim, and he died there.

Darby Translation
And Adoni-Bezek said, Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gleaned under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then the ruler of Bezek said, "I cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 kings. And they had to eat pieces of food that fell from my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them." The men of Judah took the ruler of Bezek to Jerusalem, and he died there.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Adoni-bezek said: 'Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered food under my table; as I have done, so God hath requited me.' And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

King James Version (1611)
And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore & ten kings, hauing their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meate vnder my table: as I haue done, so God hath requited mee, and they brought him to Ierusalem, and there he died.

New Life Bible
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off had to gather their food under my table. Now God has paid me for what I have done." So they brought him to Jerusalem and there he died.

New Revised Standard
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has paid me back." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said Adoni-bezek - Seventy kings, with their thumbs and great toes cut off, have been picking up crumbs under my table, as I have done, so, hath God requited me. And they brought him into Jerusalem, and he died there.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And Adoni-bezek said, Seuentie Kings hauing the thumbes of their hands & of their feete cut off, gathered bread vnder my table: as I haue done, so God hath rewarded me. so they brought him to Ierusalem, and there he died.

George Lamsa Translation
And the lord of Bezek said, Seventy kings, with their thumbs and great toes cut off, used to pick up bread under my table; as I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

Good News Translation
Adonibezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. God has now done to me what I did to them." He was taken to Jerusalem, where he died.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Adonibezec said: Seventy kings, having their fingers and toes cut off, gathered up the leavings of the meat under my table: as I have done, so hath God requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Revised Standard Version
And Ado'ni-be'zek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their great toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has requited me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Adonibezek said, Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table: as I therefore have done, so God has recompensed me: and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Christian Standard Bible®
Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I have done.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Hebrew Names Version
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Yerushalayim, and he died there.

King James Version
And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

Lexham English Bible
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; just as I have done, so God has repaid to me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Literal Translation
And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to be gathering scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde Adoni Besek: Thre score and ten kynges wt the thombes of their hades & fete cut of, gathered vp the meate yt was lefte vnder my table. Now as I haue done, so hath God rewarded me agayne. And he was broughte vnto Ierusale, where he dyed.

New American Standard Bible
And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

New King James Version
And Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.

Legacy Standard Bible
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having indulged in the same way as these in gross sexual immorality and having gone after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Contextual Overview

¹ After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord , "Which tribe should go first to attack the Canaanites?" ² The Lord answered, "Judah, for I have given them victory over the land." ³ The men of Judah said to their relatives from the tribe of Simeon, "Join with us to fight against the Canaanites living in the territory allotted to us. Then we will help you conquer your territory." So the men of Simeon went with Judah. ⁴ When the men of Judah attacked, the Lord gave them victory over the Canaanites and Perizzites, and they killed 10,000 enemy warriors at the town of Bezek. ⁵ While at Bezek they encountered King Adoni-bezek and fought against him, and the Canaanites and Perizzites were defeated. ⁶ Adoni-bezek escaped, but the Israelites soon captured him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. ⁷ Adoni-bezek said, "I once had seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off, eating scraps from under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them." They took him to Jerusalem, and he died there. ⁸ The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it, killing all its people and setting the city on fire.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

their thumbs: Heb. the thumbs of their hands and of their feet, This was not an unusual act of cruelty in ancient times towards enemies. - Alian informs us, that in after ages "the Athenians, at the instigation of Cleon, son of Cleoenetus, made a decree that all the inhabitants of the island of Agina should have the thumb cut off from the right hand, so that they might ever after be disabled from holding a spear, yet might handle an oar." It was a custom among those Romans who did not like a military life, to cut off their thumbs, that they might be incapable of serving in the army; and for the same reason, parents sometimes cut off the thumbs of their children.

gathered: or, gleaned

as I have: Exodus 21:23-25, Leviticus 24:19-21, 1 Samuel 15:33, Isaiah 33:1, Matthew 7:1, Matthew 7:2, Luke 6:37, Luke 6:38, Romans 2:15, James 2:13, Revelation 13:10, Revelation 16:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:36 - General Genesis 29:25 - wherefore Genesis 42:21 - we saw Genesis 44:16 - God hath Exodus 14:26 - the waters Exodus 21:24 - General 1 Samuel 11:11 - slew 2 Samuel 1:10 - slew 2 Samuel 10:19 - servants 1 Kings 16:11 - he slew 1 Kings 20:1 - Thirty and two 1 Kings 21:19 - In the place 2 Kings 11:16 - there was she slain 2 Chronicles 12:6 - the Lord 2 Chronicles 23:15 - they slew her there Esther 8:12 - one day Psalms 9:16 - known Psalms 10:14 - to requite Psalms 59:11 - Slay Psalms 107:40 - contempt Psalms 149:8 - General Proverbs 12:10 - but Jeremiah 34:17 - behold Jeremiah 50:15 - as she Jeremiah 51:49 - As Babylon Lamentations 1:18 - Lord Ezekiel 31:11 - he shall surely deal with him Daniel 11:18 - he shall cause Joel 3:7 - and will Obadiah 1:15 - as Luke 7:29 - justified

Cross-References

Genesis 1:8
God called the space "sky." And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

Genesis 1:9
Then God said, "Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear." And that is what happened.

Genesis 1:11
Then God said, "Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came." And that is what happened.

Genesis 1:15
Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth." And that is what happened.

Genesis 1:24
Then God said, "Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals." And that is what happened.

Genesis 1:28
Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground."

Genesis 1:29
Then God said, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.

Job 26:8
He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don't burst with the weight.

Psalms 104:10
You make springs pour water into the ravines, so streams gush down from the mountains.

Psalms 148:4
Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Adonibezek said,.... To the men of Judah, after his thumbs and toes were cut off, his conscience accusing him for what he had done to others, and being obliged to acknowledge he was righteously dealt with:

threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off; that is, by him, or by his orders, whom he had conquered and made captives; according to Josephus g, they were seventy two; the number may be accounted for by observing, that in those times, as appears by the preceding book, every city had a king over it; and besides, these seventy kings might not be such who had had the government of so many cities, but many of them such who had reigned successively in the same city, and had fallen into the hands of this cruel and tyrannical king, one after another, and their sons also with them might be so called: and these he says

gathered [their meat] under my table: were glad to eat of the crumbs and scraps which fell from thence, and might in their turns be put there at times for his sport and pleasure, and there be fed with the offal of his meat, as Bajazet the Turk was served by Tamerlane, who put him into an iron cage, and carried him about in it, and used him as his footstool to mount his horse, and at times fed him like a dog with crumbs from his table h:

as I have done, so God hath requited me; whether he had any knowledge of the true God, and of his justice in dealing with him according to his deserts, and had a real sense of his sin, and true repentance for it, is not certain; since the word for God is in the plural number, and sometimes used of Heathen deities, as it may be here by him; however, the righteous judgment of God clearly appears in this instance:

and they brought him to Jerusalem; to that part of Jerusalem which belonged to the tribe of Judah; see Joshua 15:8; here they brought him alive, and dying, buried him, as Josephus i says; which might be their view in carrying him thither, perceiving he was a dying man; or they had him thither to expose him as a trophy of victory, and as an example of divine justice:

and there he died: whether through grief and vexation, or of the wounds he had received, or by the immediate hand of God, or by the hands of the Israelites, is not said; neither are improbable.

g Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 2. h Such dogs are called τραπεζηες κυνες, in Homer. Iliad. 23. ver. 173. & Odyss. 17. ver. 227. i Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Threescore and ten kings - We may infer from this number of conquered kings, that the intestine wars of the Canaanites were among the causes which, under God’s Providence, weakened their resistance to the Israelites. Adoni-Bezek’s cruelty to the subject kings was the cause of his receiving (compare the marginal references) this chastisement. The loss of the thumb would make a man unfit to handle a sword or a bow; the loss of his big toe would impede his speed.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 1:7. Threescore and ten kinds — Chieftains, heads of tribes, or military officers. For the word king cannot be taken here in its proper and usual sense.

Having their thumbs and their great toes cut off — That this was an ancient mode of treating enemies we learn from AElian, who tells us, Var. Hist. l. ii., c. 9, that "the Athenians, at the instigation of Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, made a decree that all the inhabitants of the island of AEgina should have the thumb cut off from the right hand, so that they might ever after be disabled from holding a spear, yet might handle an oar." This is considered by AElian an act of great cruelty; and he wishes to Minerva, the guardian of the city, to Jupiter Eleutherius, and all the gods of Greece, that the Athenians had never done such things. It was a custom among those Romans who did not like a military life, to cut off their own thumbs, that they might not be capable of serving in the army. Sometimes the parents cut off the thumbs of their children, that they might not be called into the army. According to Suetonius, in Vit. August., c. 24, a Roman knight, who had cut off the thumbs of his two sons to prevent them from being called to a military life was, by the order of Augustus, publicly sold, both he and his property. These are the words of Suetonius: Equitem Romanum, quod duobus filis adolescentibus, causa detractandi sacramenti, pollices amputasset, ipsum bonaque subjecit hastae. Calmet remarks that the Italian language has preserved a term, poltrone, which signifies one whose thumb is cut off, to designate a soldier destitute of courage and valour. We use poltroon to signify a dastardly fellow, without considering the import of the original. There have been found frequent instances of persons maiming themselves, that they might be incapacitated for military duty. I have heard an instance in which a knavish soldier discharged his gun through his hand, that he might be discharged from his regiment. The cutting off of the thumbs was probably designed for a double purpose:

1. To incapacitate them for war; and,

2. To brand them as cowards.

Gathered their meat under my table] I think this was a proverbial mode of expression, to signify reduction to the meanest servitude; for it is not at all likely that seventy kings, many of whom must have been contemporaries, were placed under the table of the king of Bezek, and there fed; as in the houses of poor persons the dogs are fed with crumbs and offal, under the table of their owners.

So God hath requited me. — The king of Bezek seems to have had the knowledge of the true God, and a proper notion of a Divine providence. He now feels himself reduced to that state to which he had cruelly reduced others. Those acts in him were acts of tyrannous cruelty; the act towards him was an act of retributive justice.

And there he died. — He continued at Jerusalem in a servile and degraded condition till the day of his death. How long he lived after his disgrace we know not.