Hakim-hakim 1:14

1:14 One time Acsah ¹  came and charmed her father ²  so she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

Hakim-hakim 11:39

11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. ³  Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. ⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 13:6

13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God ⁵  came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. ⁶  I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

Hakim-hakim 13:9-10

13:9 God answered Manoah’s prayer. ⁷  God’s angelic messenger visited ⁸  the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. 13:10 The woman ran at once and told her husband, ⁹  “Come quickly, ¹⁰  the man who visited ¹¹  me the other day has appeared to me!”

Hakim-hakim 14:15

14:15 On the fourth ¹²  day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. ¹³  If you refuse, ¹⁴  we will burn up ¹⁵  you and your father’s family. ¹⁶  Did you invite us here ¹⁷  to make us poor?” ¹⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 19:3

19:3 her husband came ¹⁹  after her, hoping he could convince her to return. ²⁰  He brought with him his servant ²¹  and a pair of donkeys. When she brought him into her father’s house and the girl’s father saw him, he greeted him warmly. ²² 

Hakim-hakim 19:26-27

19:26 The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master ²³  was staying until it became light. ²⁴  19:27 When her master ²⁵  got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

Hakim-hakim 20:3-4

20:3 The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, “Explain how this wicked thing happened!” 20:4 The Levite, ²⁶  the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, “I and my concubine stopped in ²⁷  Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ²⁸  to spend the night.

Hakim-hakim 21:10

21:10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors ²⁹  against Jabesh Gilead. ³⁰  They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords ³¹  the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children.

¹ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “him.” The pronoun could refer to Othniel, in which case one would translate, “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Acsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 15. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18 // Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. The translation takes Caleb to be the referent, specified as “her father.”

³ tn Heb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302-3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.

⁴ tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”

⁵ tn Heb “The man of God.”

⁶ tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”

⁷ tn Heb “God listened to the voice of Manoah.”

⁸ tn Heb “came to.”

⁹ tn Heb “and said to him.” This phrase has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ tn Heb “Look.”

¹¹ tn Heb “came to.”

¹² tc The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי (rÿvi’i, “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי (shÿvi’i, “seventh”). Some ancient textual witnesses (e.g., LXX and the Syriac Peshitta) read “fourth,” here, which certainly harmonizes better with the preceding verse (cf. “for three days”) and with v. 17. Another option is to change שְׁלֹשֶׁת (shÿloshet, “three”) at the end of v. 14 to שֵׁשֶׁת (sheshet, “six”), but the resulting scenario does not account as well for v. 17, which implies the bride had been hounding Samson for more than one day.

¹³ tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “lest.”

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement: “burn up with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁶ tn Heb “house.”

¹⁷ tc The translation assumes the Hebrew form הֲלֹם (halom, “here,” attested in five Hebrew mss and supported by the Targum), instead of the inexplicable הֲלֹא (halo’), a negative particle with interrogative particle prefixed to it.

¹⁸ tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364.

¹⁹ tn Heb “arose and came.”

²⁰ tn Heb “to speak to her heart to bring her back.”

²¹ tn Or “young man.”

²² tn Heb “he was happy to meet him.”

²³ tn The Hebrew term here translated “master,” is plural. The plural indicates degree here and emphasizes the Levite’s absolute sovereignty over the woman.

²⁴ tn Heb “The woman came at the turning of the morning and fell at the door of the house of the man where her master was until the light.”

²⁵ tn The Hebrew term here translated “master,” is plural. The plural indicates degree here and emphasizes the Levite’s absolute sovereignty over the woman.

²⁶ tn Heb “The man, the Levite.”

²⁷ tn Heb “came to.”

²⁸ tn Heb “which belongs to Benjamin.”

²⁹ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

³⁰ tn Heb “there.”

³¹ tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”