On the noun אִישׁ in Judges 6:16

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the אִישׁ term, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in “Notes on Gender in Translation,” pp. 11–16.)

Prototypically, אִישׁ is used in sketching a situation schematically. The expression כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד, which appears nine times, describes the manner of action in an event, likening it to what would be expected if the situation had only one participant. Here, the Deity is reassuring Gideon that the proposed mission will not be a long, drawn-out affair. The issue is not utter destruction (which hypothetically could take place over a period of time) but rather the simplicity of the campaign, which is to be accomplished via a single decisive encounter. In contemporary slang, “one-and-done.”

As for rendering into English, NJPS ‘to a man’ is an idiom that means “without exception; including every person” (Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. man, 17j). Although that rendering resembles the Hebrew expression in form, it misrepresents the meaning. (As does NRSVue ‘every one of them’.)

More accurate English renderings include: ‘at one fell swoop’ (Shakespeare); ‘all at once’; and ‘in one stroke’. Of these choices, I judge that all at once best matches the schematic vagueness of the Hebrew expression. (Meanwhile, the fact that women are not in view is self-evident from the military context, and thus can go without saying.)