Hakim-hakim 5:13

5:13 Then the survivors ¹  came down ²  to the mighty ones; ³ 

the Lord’s people came down to me ⁴  as ⁵  warriors.

Hakim-hakim 6:6

6:6 Israel was so severely weakened by Midian that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

Hakim-hakim 6:13

6:13 Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, ⁶  but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster ⁷  overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ⁸  ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

Hakim-hakim 9:14

9:14 “So all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘You come and be our king!’ ⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 9:42

9:42 The next day the Shechemites ¹⁰  came out to the field. When Abimelech heard about it, ¹¹ 

Hakim-hakim 13:21

13:21 The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. ¹² 

Hakim-hakim 14:7

14:7 Samson continued on down to Timnah ¹³  and spoke to the girl. In his opinion, she was just the right one. ¹⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 15:20

15:20 Samson led ¹⁵  Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence. ¹⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 21:11

21:11 Do this: ¹⁷  exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. ¹⁸  But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. ¹⁹ 

[5:13]  ¹ tn This probably refers to those who responded to the call for war. They were “survivors” of the Canaanite oppression (see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 250).

[5:13]  ² tn The translation assumes a repointing of the verb as a perfect or imperfect/preterite form of יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”). The form as pointed in the MT appears to be from רָדָה (radah, “to rule”). See GKC 188 §69.g. The same form, translated “came down,” occurs in the next line as well.

[5:13]  ³ sn The expression mighty ones probably refers to the leaders of the army.

[5:13]  ⁴ sn The speaker may be Deborah here.

[5:13]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes the preposition ב (bet) prefixed to “warriors” has the force of “in the capacity of.” For this use of the preposition, see GKC 379 §119.i.

[6:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “But my lord.”

[6:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “all this.”

[6:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

[9:14]  ⁹ tn Or “and rule over us!”

[9:42]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the people”; the referent (the Shechemites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:42]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And they told Abimelech.”

[13:21]  ¹² tn Heb “Then Manoah knew that he was the Lord’s messenger.”

[14:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “He went down.”

[14:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “She was the right one in the eyes of Samson.”

[15:20]  ¹⁵ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

[15:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the days of the Philistines.”

[21:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”

[21:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.”

[21:11]  ¹⁹ tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (ve’et-habbÿtulot tÿkhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vÿ’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.