Hakim-hakim 1:33

1:33 The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. ¹  They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites ²  living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.

Hakim-hakim 2:12

2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ³  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ⁴  them and made the Lord angry.

Hakim-hakim 3:15

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ⁵  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ⁶  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 4:9

4:9 She said, “I will indeed go with you. But you will not gain fame ⁸  on the expedition you are undertaking, ⁹  for the Lord will turn Sisera over to a woman.” ¹⁰  Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Hakim-hakim 7:25

7:25 They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. ¹¹  They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb ¹²  in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites ¹³  and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River. ¹⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 9:7

Jotham’s Parable

9:7 When Jotham heard the news, ¹⁵  he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below, ¹⁶  “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!

Hakim-hakim 11:35

11:35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! ¹⁷  You have brought me disaster! ¹⁸  I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” ¹⁹ 

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, ²⁰  “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.” ²¹ 

Hakim-hakim 13:20

13:20 As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord’s messenger went up in it ²²  while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown ²³  to the ground.

Hakim-hakim 14:6

14:6 The Lord’s spirit empowered ²⁴  him and he tore the lion ²⁵  in two with his bare hands ²⁶  as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

Hakim-hakim 14:9

14:9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned ²⁷  to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass. ²⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 14:19

14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes ²⁹  and gave them ³⁰  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. ³¹ 

Hakim-hakim 15:14

15:14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered ³²  him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in ³³  fire, and they ³⁴  melted away from his hands.

Hakim-hakim 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret. ³⁵  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ³⁶  for I have been dedicated to God ³⁷  from the time I was conceived. ³⁸  If my head ³⁹  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

Hakim-hakim 16:23

Samson’s Death and Burial

16:23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.”

Hakim-hakim 18:14

18:14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish ⁴⁰  said to their kinsmen, ⁴¹  “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”

Hakim-hakim 18:28

18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city ⁴²  was far from Sidon ⁴³  and they had no dealings with anyone. ⁴⁴  The city ⁴⁵  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁴⁶  rebuilt the city and occupied it.

Hakim-hakim 19:9

19:9 When the man got ready to leave ⁴⁷  with his concubine and his servant, ⁴⁸  his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! The day is almost over! ⁴⁹  Stay another night! Since the day is over, ⁵⁰  stay another night here and have a good time. You can get up early tomorrow and start your trip home.” ⁵¹ 

Hakim-hakim 20:35

20:35 The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. ⁵² 

Hakim-hakim 21:16

21:16 The leaders ⁵³  of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? ⁵⁴  After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out.

[1:33]  ¹ tn Heb “the people living in Beth Shemesh or the people living in Beth Anath.”

[1:33]  ² tn The term “Canaanites” is supplied here both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[2:12]  ³ tn Or “fathers.”

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).

[3:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:15]  ⁶ tn The phrase, which refers to Ehud, literally reads “bound/restricted in the right hand,” apparently a Hebrew idiom for a left-handed person. See Judg 20:16, where 700 Benjaminites are described in this way. Perhaps the Benjaminites purposely trained several of their young men to be left-handed warriors by restricting the use of the right hand from an early age so the left hand would become dominant. Left-handed men would have a distinct military advantage, especially when attacking city gates. See B. Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BRev 4 (1988): 35.

[3:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

[4:9]  ⁸ tn Or “honor.”

[4:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “on [account of (?)] the way which you are walking.” Another option is to translate, “due to the way you are going about this.” In this case direct reference is made to Barak’s hesitancy as the reason for his loss of glory.

[4:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for into the hands of a woman the Lord will sell Sisera.”

[7:25]  ¹¹ sn The names Oreb and Zeeb, which mean “Raven” and “Wolf” respectively, are appropriate because the Midianites had been like scavengers and predators to Israel.

[7:25]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text repeats the verb “executed.” This has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “beyond the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity (also in 8:4).

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And they reported to Jotham.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “He lifted his voice and called and said to them.”

[11:35]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you have brought me very low,” or “you have knocked me to my knees.” The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[11:35]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “You are among [or “like”] those who trouble me.”

[11:35]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I opened my mouth to the Lord and I am not able to return.”

[12:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “because they said.”

[12:4]  ²¹ 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.”

[13:20]  ²² tn Heb “in the flame from the altar.”

[13:20]  ²³ tn Heb “on their faces.”

[14:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “rushed on.”

[14:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”

[14:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “went.” Samson apparently went home to his parents before going to Timnah for the marriage. Seeing and tasting the honey appears to encourage Manoah to go with his son to Timnah. Perhaps both Samson and his father viewed the honey as a good omen of future blessing. Possibly Samson considered it a symbol of sexual pleasure or an aphrodisiac. Note the use of honey imagery in Song 4:11 and 5:1.

[14:9]  ²⁸ sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6.

[14:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”

[14:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”

[14:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”

[15:14]  ³² tn Heb “rushed on.”

[15:14]  ³³ tn Heb “burned with.”

[15:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his bonds.”

[16:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “all his heart.”

[16:17]  ³⁶ tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

[16:17]  ³⁷ tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

[16:17]  ³⁸ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

[16:17]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).

[18:14]  ⁴⁰ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX lacks the phrase “of Laish.”

[18:14]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[18:28]  ⁴² tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

[18:28]  ⁴³ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[18:28]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

[18:28]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

[18:28]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the man arose to go.”

[19:9]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “young man.”

[19:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the day is sinking to become evening.”

[19:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “declining.”

[19:9]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “for your way and go to your tent.”

[20:35]  ⁵² tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”

[21:16]  ⁵³ tn Or “elders.”

[21:16]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”