What Does Judges 8:26 Mean?
And the weight of the golden rings that he asked was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, beside the crescents, and the drops, and the purple cloth that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the neck-rings that were about their camels' necks.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels’ necks.THE KEY
Gold’s weight makes victory countable, while purple cloth and camel chains make rank visible.
THE MEANING
The verse places 1,700 shekels of gold beside ornaments, collars, purple raiment, and chains on the camels’ necks. Its count and inventory make power tangible: gold is weighed, and rank appears in what is worn and carried.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁקַל
mishqal
GROWS FROM
שקל
sh-q-l
to weigh, to assign a weight
The verse names the gold’s weight and measures it in shekels. Both words grow from שקל, so the wealth is presented as something weighed into a countable measure.
ALSO GROWS
shaqal: to weigh
שָׁקַל
The verb behind the noun shows that the gold’s stated weight is an act of weighing, not a vague quantity.
sheqel: a shekel, a unit of weight
שֶׁקֶל
The unit used to count the gold shares its root with “weight,” joining the metal’s mass to its measure.
שָׁאַל
sha'al
GROWS FROM
שאל
sha'al
to ask, request; in some contexts, to borrow
“asked” in this verse is sha'al. The verb describes Gideon asking for the earrings. The same root can describe asking for goods that are then received, so the request itself belongs to the verse’s account of how wealth changes hands.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: a request, petition
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun from the same root makes the act of asking explicit within the word family.
vayyish'alu: they asked; translated “borrowed”
וַיִּשְׁאֲלוּ
In Exodus 12:35 this form describes the Israelites asking the Egyptians for silver, gold, and clothing, linking request-language to a transfer of valuables.
THE PATTERN
Precious wealth becomes legible through measured metal and visible goods, whether worn, given, or traded.
And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and vessels of gold and garments.A flood of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba shall come, carrying gold and frankincense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.The cargo of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all citron wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel of the most precious wood, and bronze, and iron, and marble.THE THREAD
And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and vessels of gold and garments.The word translated “borrowed” in Exodus comes from שאל (sha’al), the same root as “requested” here. The shared root links two transfers of gold and clothing through the language of asking.
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