8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Five of you shall chase - A proverbial mode of expression for superiority in warlike prowess Deuteronomy 32:30; Isaiah 30:17.
And five of you shall chase an hundred,.... One man chase twenty:
and an hundred of you put ten thousand to flight; which, had it been in proportion to the other number, should have been two thousand, as in Deuteronomy 32:30; where there is a proportion observed; and Abendana observes, there are some that give the sense of it thus, an hundred of you, an hundred times five, that is, five hundred, and so it comes up to a right computation; but here it seems to be a certain number for an uncertain, and only a proverbial expression, signifying that a very few, under the blessing of divine Providence, should get the advantage over a large number, and oblige them to retire, and pursue them closely: instances we have of large bodies of the enemy being defeated by a small number of Israelites, Judges 7:21; and even many by a single person or two, 1-Samuel 14:13,
and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword; See Gill on Leviticus 26:7.
Five - A small number; a certain number for an uncertain.
*More commentary available at chapter level.