Hakim-hakim 2:10

2:10 That entire generation passed away; ¹  a new generation grew up ²  that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel. ³ 

Hakim-hakim 2:18

2:18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people ⁴  from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them ⁵  when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. ⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 3:19

3:19 But he went back ⁷  once he reached ⁸  the carved images ⁹  at Gilgal. He said to Eglon, ¹⁰  “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon ¹¹  said, “Be quiet!” ¹²  All his attendants left.

Hakim-hakim 4:16

4:16 Now Barak chased the chariots and the army all the way to Harosheth Haggoyim. Sisera’s whole army died ¹³  by the edge of the sword; not even one survived! ¹⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹⁵  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ¹⁶  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ¹⁷  will die by morning! ¹⁸  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ¹⁹  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ²⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 6:37

6:37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it ²¹  is dry, then I will be sure ²²  that you will use me to deliver Israel, ²³  as you promised.”

Hakim-hakim 6:39

6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. ²⁴  Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” ²⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 7:1

Gideon Reduces the Ranks

7:1 Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men ²⁶  got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. ²⁷  The Midianites ²⁸  were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

Hakim-hakim 7:7-8

7:7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army ²⁹  and I will hand Midian over to you. ³⁰  The rest of the men should go home.” ³¹  7:8 The men ³²  who were chosen ³³  took supplies ³⁴  and their trumpets. Gideon ³⁵  sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; ³⁶  he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites ³⁷  were camped down below ³⁸  in the valley.

Hakim-hakim 7:14

7:14 The other man said, ³⁹  “Without a doubt this symbolizes ⁴⁰  the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

Hakim-hakim 7:22

7:22 When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords ⁴¹  throughout ⁴²  the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went ⁴³  to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

Hakim-hakim 9:45

9:45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled ⁴⁴  the city and spread salt over it. ⁴⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 10:8

10:8 They ruthlessly oppressed ⁴⁶  the Israelites that eighteenth year ⁴⁷  – that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead.

Hakim-hakim 10:18

10:18 The leaders ⁴⁸  of Gilead said to one another, “Who is willing to lead the charge ⁴⁹  against the Ammonites? He will become the leader of all who live in Gilead!”

Hakim-hakim 11:8

11:8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true, ⁵⁰  but now we pledge to you our loyalty. ⁵¹  Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader ⁵²  of all who live in Gilead.” ⁵³ 

Hakim-hakim 11:11

11:11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement ⁵⁴  before the Lord in Mizpah.

Hakim-hakim 11:26

11:26 Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time?

Hakim-hakim 12:4

12:4 Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and they fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because the Ephraimites insulted them, saying, ⁵⁵  “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.” ⁵⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 13:7

13:7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. ⁵⁷  So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. ⁵⁸  For the child will be dedicated ⁵⁹  to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

Hakim-hakim 13:23

13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. ⁶⁰  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

Hakim-hakim 14:3

14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our ⁶¹  people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.” ⁶²  But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, ⁶³  because she is the right one for me.” ⁶⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 16:30-31

16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard ⁶⁵  and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. ⁶⁶  16:31 His brothers and all his family ⁶⁷  went down and brought him back. ⁶⁸  They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led ⁶⁹  Israel for twenty years.

Hakim-hakim 18:10

18:10 When you invade, ⁷⁰  you will encounter ⁷¹  unsuspecting people. The land is wide! ⁷²  God is handing it over to you – a place that lacks nothing on earth!” ⁷³ 

Hakim-hakim 19:19

19:19 We have enough straw and grain for our donkeys, and there is enough food and wine for me, your female servant, ⁷⁴  and the young man who is with your servants. ⁷⁵  We lack nothing.”

Hakim-hakim 19:25

19:25 The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite ⁷⁶  grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. ⁷⁷  They raped ⁷⁸  her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.

Hakim-hakim 19:30

19:30 Everyone who saw the sight ⁷⁹  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ⁸⁰  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ⁸¹  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

Hakim-hakim 20:25

20:25 The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. ⁸² 

Hakim-hakim 20:35

20:35 The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. ⁸³ 

Hakim-hakim 21:5

21:5 The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed. ⁸⁴ 

[2:10]  ¹ tn Heb “All that generation were gathered to their fathers.”

[2:10]  ² tn Heb “arose after them.”

[2:10]  ³ tn Heb “that did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel.” The expressions “personally experienced” and “seen” are interpretive.

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁵ tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “the ones oppressing them and afflicting them.” The synonyms “oppressing” and “afflicting” are joined together in the translation as “harsh oppressors” to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.

[3:19]  ⁷ tn Or “returned” (i.e., to Eglon’s palace).

[3:19]  ⁸ tn The words “when he reached” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text simply reads “from.”

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Or “idols.”

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn The words “to Eglon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:19]  ¹² tn Or “Hush!”

[4:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “fell.”

[4:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “was left.”

[6:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

[6:31]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

[6:31]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fights for him.”

[6:31]  ¹⁸ sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.

[6:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fight for himself.”

[6:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).

[6:37]  ²¹ tn Heb “all the ground.”

[6:37]  ²² tn Or “know.”

[6:37]  ²³ tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”

[6:39]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”

[6:39]  ²⁵ tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”

[7:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and all the people who were with him.”

[7:1]  ²⁷ sn The name Harod means, ironically, “trembling.”

[7:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Midian.” The LXX reads “and Amalek” (cf. v. 12; 6:33).

[7:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you.” The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.

[7:7]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.

[7:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “All the people should go, each to his place.”

[7:8]  ³² tn Heb “The people.”

[7:8]  ³³ tn The words “who were chosen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:8]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “in their hands.”

[7:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “tents.”

[7:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:8]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “him” (i.e., Gideon).

[7:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[7:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “This can be nothing but.”

[7:22]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the Lord set the sword of each one against his friend.”

[7:22]  ⁴² tc MT has “and throughout the camp,” but the conjunction (“and”) is due to dittography and should be dropped. Compare the ancient versions, which lack the conjunction here.

[7:22]  ⁴³ tn The words “they went” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:45]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “destroyed.”

[9:45]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”

[9:45]  sn The spreading of salt over the city was probably a symbolic act designed to place the site under a curse, deprive it of fertility, and prevent any future habitation. The practice is referred to outside the Bible as well. For example, one of the curses in the Aramaic Sefire treaty states concerning Arpad: “May Hadad sow in them salt and weeds, and may it not be mentioned again!” See J. A. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire (BibOr), 15, 53. Deut 29:23, Jer 17:6, and Zeph 2:9 associate salt flats or salty regions with infertility and divine judgment.

[10:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “shattered and crushed.” The repetition of similar sounding synonyms (רָעַץ [ra’ats] and רָצַץ [ratsats]) is for emphasis; רָצַץ appears in the Polel, adding further emphasis to the affirmation.

[10:8]  ⁴⁷ tn The phrase שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה (shemoneh ’esreh shanah) could be translated “eighteen years,” but this would be difficult after the reference to “that year.” It is possible that v. 8b is parenthetical, referring to an eighteen year long period of oppression east of the Jordan which culminated in hostilities against all Israel (including Judah, see v. 9) in the eighteenth year. It is simpler to translate the phrase as an ordinal number, though the context does not provide the point of reference. (See Gen 14:4-5 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 191-92.) In this case, the following statement specifies which “Israelites” are in view.

[10:18]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the people, the officers.”

[10:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Who is the man who will begin fighting.”

[11:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “therefore”; “even so.” For MT לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) the LXX has an opposite reading, “not so,” which seems to be based on the Hebrew words לֹא כֵן (lo’ khen).

[11:8]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “we have returned to you.” For another example of שׁוּב אֶל (shuv ’el) in the sense of “give allegiance to,” see 1 Kgs 12:27b.

[11:8]  ⁵² sn Then you will become the leader. The leaders of Gilead now use the word רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “head, leader”), the same term that appeared in their original, general offer (see 10:18). In their initial offer to Jephthah they had simply invited him to be their קָצִין (qatsin, “commander”; v. 6). When he resists they must offer him a more attractive reward – rulership over the region. See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 198.

[11:8]  ⁵³ tn Heb “leader of us and all who live in Gilead.”

[11:11]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “spoke all his words.” This probably refers to the “words” recorded in v. 9. Jephthah repeats the terms of the agreement at the Lord’s sanctuary, perhaps to ratify the contract or to emphasize the Gileadites’ obligation to keep their part of the bargain. Another option is to translate, “Jephthah conducted business before the Lord in Mizpah.” In this case, the statement is a general reference to the way Jephthah ruled. He recognized the Lord’s authority and made his decisions before the Lord.

[12:4]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “because they said.”

[12:4]  ⁵⁶ tc Heb “Refugees of Ephraim are you, O Gilead, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” The LXX omits the entire second half of the verse (beginning with “because”). The words כִּי אָמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם (ki ’amru pÿlitey ’efrayim, “because they said, ‘Refugees of Ephraim’”) may have been accidentally copied from the next verse (cf. כִּי יֹאמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם, ki yo’mÿru pelitey ’efrayim) and the following words (“you, O Gilead…Manasseh”) then added in an attempt to make sense of the verse. See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 307-8, and C. F. Burney, Judges, 327. If the Hebrew text is retained, then the Ephraimites appear to be insulting the Gileadites by describing them as refugees who are squatting on Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s land. The present translation assumes that “Ephraim” is a genitive of location after “refugees.”

[13:7]  ⁵⁷ tn See the note on the word “son” in 13:5, where this same statement occurs.

[13:7]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”

[13:7]  ⁵⁹ tn Traditionally “a Nazirite.”

[13:23]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “our hand.”

[14:3]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading.

[14:3]  ⁶² tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?”

[14:3]  ⁶³ tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357.

[14:3]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”

[16:30]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”

[16:30]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”

[16:31]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “and all the house of his father.”

[16:31]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “and lifted him up and brought up.”

[16:31]  ⁶⁹ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

[18:10]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “When you enter.”

[18:10]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “you will come to.”

[18:10]  ⁷² tn Heb “broad of hands,” an idiom meaning “wide on both sides.”

[18:10]  ⁷³ tn Heb “a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

[19:19]  ⁷⁴ tn By calling his concubine the old man’s “female servant,” the Levite emphasizes their dependence on him for shelter.

[19:19]  ⁷⁵ tc Some Hebrew mss and ancient witnesses read the singular, “your servant,” which would refer to the Levite. If one retains the plural, then both the Levite and his wife are in view. In either case the pronominal suffix emphasizes their dependence on the old man for shelter.

[19:25]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:25]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “and he caused [her] to go outside to them.”

[19:25]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “knew,” in the sexual sense.

[19:30]  ⁷⁹ tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[19:30]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “from the day.”

[19:30]  ⁸¹ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the following additional words: “And he instructed the men whom he sent out, ‘Thus you will say to every male Israelite: “There has never been anything like this from the day the Israelites left Egypt till the present day.”’”

[20:25]  ⁸² tn Heb “And Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah the second day, and they struck down among the sons of Israel eighteen thousand men to the ground, all of these were wielding the sword.”

[20:35]  ⁸³ tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”

[21:5]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “A great oath there was concerning the one who did not go up before the Lord at Mizpah, saying, ‘He must surely be put to death.’”