Judges 7:24

Gideon sends a message (cf. Judges 6:35) to the Ephraimites in the country S. of the battlefield, urging them to seize the fords, and so to meet the Midianitesas they come flying down the Jordan valley. Cf. Judges 3:27 f., Judges 12:5 f.

the waters, as far as Beth-barah, and also Jordan(marg.)] As the text stands, the watersare distinguished from Jordan; hence Moore suggests that the watersrefer to the Wadi Fâr-a, a perennial stream which empties itself into the Jordan near the ford of Dâmiyeh; but the stream is not large enough to offer any serious obstacle, it would not be worth holding: the watersmost naturally mean those of the Jordan; and also Jordanwill then be either a gloss added to explain the waters, or a mistake for upon the Jordan, as the Peshitto reads; -upon" = -on the bank of," as in Judges 5:19; Numbers 22:5; Deuteronomy 3:12, etc. Beth-barahhas not been discovered; the context implies that it lay S. of the Ephraimite country near the Jordan. The Verss. give the pronunciation Beth-bçrah, as if meaning -house of the well."