Judges 1:1

Judah Takes the Lead

1:1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked ¹  the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” ² 

Judges 1:10

1:10 The men of Judah attacked the Canaanites living in Hebron. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba.) They killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Judges 1:17

1:17 The men of Judah went with their brothers the men of Simeon ³  and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They wiped out Zephath. ⁴  So people now call the city Hormah. ⁵ 

Judges 2:11

A Monotonous Cycle

2:11 The Israelites did evil before ⁶  the Lord by worshiping ⁷  the Baals.

Judges 3:29

3:29 That day they killed about ten thousand Moabites ⁸  – all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped.

Judges 4:15

4:15 The Lord routed ⁹  Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. ¹⁰  Sisera jumped out of ¹¹  his chariot and ran away on foot.

Judges 6:3

6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, ¹²  the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack them. ¹³ 

Judges 6:9

6:9 I rescued you from Egypt’s power ¹⁴  and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their land to you.

Judges 9:33

9:33 In the morning at sunrise quickly attack the city. When he and his men come out to fight you, do what you can to him.” ¹⁵ 

Judges 9:43

9:43 he took his men ¹⁶  and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, ¹⁷  he attacked and struck them down. ¹⁸ 

Judges 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 ¹⁹  the city and spread salt over it. ²⁰ 

Judges 10:8

10:8 They ruthlessly oppressed ²¹  the Israelites that eighteenth year ²²  – that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead.

Judges 11:27

11:27 I have not done you wrong, ²³  but you are doing wrong ²⁴  by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!’”

Judges 11:29

A Foolish Vow Spells Death for a Daughter

11:29 The Lord’s spirit empowered ²⁵  Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went ²⁶  to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. ²⁷ 

Judges 20:5

20:5 The leaders of Gibeah attacked me and at night surrounded the house where I was staying. ²⁸  They wanted to kill me; instead they abused my concubine so badly that she died.

Judges 20:25

20:25 The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. ²⁹ 

Judges 20:27

20:27 The Israelites asked the Lord (for the ark of God’s covenant was there in those days;

Judges 20:34

20:34 Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. ³⁰  But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. ³¹ 

¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “asked” (שָׁאַל, sha’al) refers here to consulting the Lord through a prophetic oracle; cf. NAB “consulted.”

² tn Heb “Who should first go up for us against the Canaanites to attack them?”

³ tn Heb “Judah went with Simeon, his brother.”

⁴ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the city of Zephath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn The name Hormah (חָרְמָה, khormah) sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “wipe out” (חָרַם, kharam).

⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

⁶ tn Or “serving”; or “following.”

⁷ tn Heb “They struck Moab that day – about ten thousand men.”

⁹ tn Or “caused to panic.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “before Barak.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹¹ tn Heb “got down from.”

¹¹ tn Heb “Whenever Israel sowed seed.”

¹² tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east would go up, they would go up against him.” The translation assumes that וְעָלוּ (vÿ’alu) is dittographic (note the following עָלָיו, ’alayv).

¹³ tn Heb “hand” (also a second time later in this verse).

¹⁵ tn Heb “Look! He and the people who are with him will come out to you, and you will do to him what your hand finds [to do].”

¹⁷ tn Heb “his people.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”

¹⁹ tn Or “destroyed.”

²⁰ tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”

²¹ 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.

²² 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.

²³ tn Or “sinned against you.”

²⁴ tn Or “evil.”

²⁵ tn Heb “was on.”

²⁶ tn Heb “passed through.”

²⁷ tn Heb “From Mizpah in Gilead he passed through [to] the Ammonites.”

²⁷ tn Heb “arose against me and surrounded against me the house at night.”

²⁹ 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.”

³¹ tn Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”

³² tn Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”