Judges 8:31
◄  Judges 8:31  ►
New International Version (©2011)
His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek.

New Living Translation (©2007)
He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech.

English Standard Version (©2001)
And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

International Standard Version (©2012)
His mistress in Shechem bore him a son whom he named Abimelech.

NET Bible (©2006)
His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
His concubine at Shechem also gave birth to a son. That son was named Abimelech.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

American King James Version
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

American Standard Version
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And his concubine, that he had in Sichem, bore him a son, whose name was Abimelech.

Darby Bible Translation
And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abim'elech.

English Revised Version
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.

Webster's Bible Translation
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

World English Bible
His concubine who was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

Young's Literal Translation
and his concubine, who is in Shechem, hath born to him -- even she -- a son, and he appointeth his name Abimelech.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:29-35 As soon as Gideon was dead, who kept the people to the worship of the God of Israel, they found themselves under no restraint; then they went after Baalim, and showed no kindness to the family of Gideon. No wonder if those who forget their God, forget their friends. Yet conscious of our own ingratitude to the Lord, and observing that of mankind in general, we should learn to be patient under any unkind returns we meet with for our poor services, and resolve, after the Divine example, not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - Whose name he called. This is badly translated; it should he, he gave him the name of Abimelech - literally, he set his name Abimelech. There are two phrases in Hebrew. The one, he called his name Seth, Noah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, etc., as the case may be. And this is the phrase always, though not exclusively (see, e.g., Genesis 35:10; Judges 6:32), used of the name given to a child at its birth or circumcision. The other is, he gave or set him the name, or, he gave or set his name so-and-so, and this phrase is only used of additional names, or surnames given later in life. The examples are Judges 13:31; 2 Kings 17:34; Nehemiah 9:7; Daniel 2:7; Daniel 5:12. The inference is that the name of Abimelech, which means father of a king, and was the name of the royal family of Gerar, was given to Abimelech as a significant surname, and was perhaps one of the causes which induced him to seize the kingdom. A third phrase is found in 2 Kings 23:34; 2 Kings 24:17; 2 Chronicles 36:4: he turned his name to Jehoiakim; changed his name to Zedekiah. The Hebrew is the same in all these passages.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And his concubine that was in Shechem,.... Which was not an harlot, but a secondary or half wife; such were generally taken from handmaids, and of the meaner sort, and were not in such esteem as proper wives, had not the management of household affairs, only a share in the bed, and their children did not inherit. This concubine of Gideon's seems not to have been taken into his house at all, but lived at Shechem, perhaps in her father's house, and here Gideon met with her when he went to Shechem as a judge to try causes; her name, according to Josephus (l), was Druma:

she also bare him a son; as his other wives did; perhaps all the children he had were sons, and this was one over and above the seventy, and not to be reckoned into that number:

whose name he called Abimelech: which signifies, "my father a king"; which he gave him either in memory of the offer made him to be king of Israel, or through foresight of what this son of his would be; or he might be moved to it by the mother from pride and vanity, and which name might afterwards inspire the young man to be made a king, as he was; and the account given of his name is because of the narrative of him in the following chapter.

(l) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 1.

Judges 8:31 Parallel Commentaries

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Forty Years of Peace
…29And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelled in his own house. 30And Gideon had three score and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives. 31And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

Judges 8:30 He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives.
Judges 8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Judges 9:1 Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother's brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother's clan,
Judges 9:18 But today you have revolted against my father's family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you.