In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
In the days of Shamgar ... in the days of Jael. Shamgar [Septuagint, Samegar] is mentioned, Judges 3:31, as a judge, who by one feat of bravery effected a deliverance, for Israel. According to Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 5:, ch. 4:, sec. 3), his official rule continued only one year, and extended exclusively over those tribes which bordered on the Philistine territory. The association of Jael with Shamgar suggests the idea that reference is made to some unrecorded judge of that name, probably the successor of Shamgar, and whose public authority might be of equally brief duration. The presumption that this is the true interpretation, rather than that the reference is to the wife of Heber the Kenite, is strengthened by the fact that the name of this person is introduced by the formula "in the days of," which is commonly applied to men invested with public authority (cf. Judges 8:28; 1 Samuel 17:12; 2 Samuel 21:2). х chaadªluw (H2308) 'ªraachowt (H734), the public roads rested, namely, from the noise of chariots, and the tread of feet; i:e., were not traveled.]
And the travelers, х wªholªkeey (H3212) nªtiybowt (H5410)] - those who used to walk in beaten (trodden) paths. х 'ªraachowt (H734) `ªqalqalowt (H6128), winding, crooked ways; i:e., go through devious and unfrequented by-ways (cf. Psalms 125:5). The Septuagint renders the whole clause thus: exelipon hodous kai eporeutheesan atrapous, eporeutheesan hodous diestrammenas].