Hakim-hakim 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 

Hakim-hakim 1:12

1:12 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife.”

Hakim-hakim 6:27

6:27 So Gideon took ten of his servants ³  and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family ⁴  and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime. ⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 6:29

6:29 They said to one another, ⁶  “Who did this?” ⁷  They investigated the matter thoroughly ⁸  and concluded ⁹  that Gideon son of Joash had done it.

Hakim-hakim 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹⁰  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ¹¹  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ¹²  will die by morning! ¹³  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ¹⁴  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ¹⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 7:3-4

7:3 Now, announce to the men, ¹⁶  ‘Whoever is shaking with fear ¹⁷  may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” ¹⁸  Twenty-two thousand men ¹⁹  went home; ²⁰  ten thousand remained. 7:4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. ²¹  Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. ²²  When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; ²³  when I say, ²⁴  ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” ²⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 9:28-29

9:28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? ²⁶  Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech? ²⁷  9:29 If only these men ²⁸  were under my command, ²⁹  I would get rid of Abimelech!” He challenged Abimelech, ³⁰  “Muster ³¹  your army and come out for battle!” ³² 

Hakim-hakim 9:38

9:38 Zebul said to him, “Where now are your bragging words, ³³  ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men ³⁴  you insulted? ³⁵  Go out now and fight them!”

Hakim-hakim 10:18

10:18 The leaders ³⁶  of Gilead said to one another, “Who is willing to lead the charge ³⁷  against the Ammonites? He will become the leader of all who live in Gilead!”

Hakim-hakim 11:25

11:25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them? ³⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 11:27

11:27 I have not done you wrong, ³⁹  but you are doing wrong ⁴⁰  by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!’”

Hakim-hakim 11:31

11:31 then whoever is the first to come through ⁴¹  the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he ⁴²  will belong to the Lord and ⁴³  I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Hakim-hakim 13:6

13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God ⁴⁴  came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. ⁴⁵  I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

Hakim-hakim 13:17

13:17 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Tell us your name, so we can honor you when your announcement comes true.” ⁴⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 15:6

15:6 The Philistines asked, ⁴⁷  “Who did this?” They were told, ⁴⁸  “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite ⁴⁹  took Samson’s ⁵⁰  bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. ⁵¹ 

Hakim-hakim 18:3

18:3 As they approached ⁵²  Micah’s house, they recognized the accent ⁵³  of the young Levite. So they stopped ⁵⁴  there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁵⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ⁵⁶  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ⁵⁷  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ⁵⁸  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ⁵⁹  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁶⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 18:28

18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city ⁶¹  was far from Sidon ⁶²  and they had no dealings with anyone. ⁶³  The city ⁶⁴  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁶⁵  rebuilt the city and occupied it.

Hakim-hakim 20:18

20:18 The Israelites went up to Bethel ⁶⁶  and asked God, ⁶⁷  “Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?” ⁶⁸  The Lord said, “Judah should lead.”

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. ⁶⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 21:8

21:8 So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering. ⁷⁰ 

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

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “Who should first go up for us against the Canaanites to attack them?”

[6:27]  ³ tn Heb “men from among his servants.”

[6:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[6:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “so he did it at night.”

[6:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “each one to his neighbor.”

[6:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “this thing.”

[6:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “they inquired and searched.” The synonyms are joined to emphasize the care with which they conducted their inquiry.

[6:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “and said.” Perhaps the plural subject is indefinite. If so, it could be translated, “they were told.”

[6:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

[6:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

[6:31]  ¹² tn Heb “fights for him.”

[6:31]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fight for himself.”

[6:31]  ¹⁵ 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).

[7:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”

[7:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”

[7:3]  ¹⁸ tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading “and leave Mount Gilead” for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, “So Gideon tested them” (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).

[7:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)

[7:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “turned around, back.”

[7:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “too many people.”

[7:4]  ²² tn Heb “test them for you there.”

[7:4]  ²³ tn Heb “he should go with you.”

[7:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb also has “to you.”

[7:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he should not go.”

[9:28]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and Zebul his appointee.”

[9:28]  ²⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abimelech) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:29]  ²⁸ tn Heb “people.”

[9:29]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in my hand.”

[9:29]  sn If only these men were under my command. One might assume from v. 26b that the men were already at his disposal, but perhaps that was not one of the terms of the agreement. Another possibility is that v. 26 is a general summary statement, with vv. 27-29 then detailing how the alliance with Gaal came about.

[9:29]  ³⁰ tn Heb “said to Abimelech.” On the other hand, the preposition ל (lamed) prefixed to the proper name may be vocative (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 178). If so, one could translate, “He boasted, ‘Abimelech…’”

[9:29]  ³¹ tn Heb “Make numerous.”

[9:29]  ³² tn The words “for battle” are interpretive.

[9:38]  ³³ tn Heb “is your mouth that says.”

[9:38]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the people.”

[9:38]  ³⁵ tn Or “despised.”

[10:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the people, the officers.”

[10:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Who is the man who will begin fighting.”

[11:25]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew grammatical constructions of all three rhetorical questions indicate emphasis, which “really” and “dare to” are intended to express in the translation.

[11:25]  sn Jephthah argues that the Ammonite king should follow the example of Balak, who, once thwarted in his attempt to bring a curse on Israel, refused to attack Israel and returned home (Num 22-24).

[11:27]  ³⁹ tn Or “sinned against you.”

[11:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “evil.”

[11:31]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotse’, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.

[11:31]  ⁴² tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.

[11:31]  ⁴³ tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the Lord’s service, but if an animal comes through the doors, he will offer it up as a sacrifice. However, it is far more likely that the Hebrew construction (vav [ו] + perfect) specifies how the subject will become the Lord’s, that is, by being offered up as a sacrifice. For similar constructions, where the apodosis of a conditional sentence has at least two perfects (each with vav) in sequence, see Gen 34:15-16; Exod 18:16.

[13:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “The man of God.”

[13:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”

[13:17]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Who your name? For [when] your word comes [to pass], we will honor you.” Manoah apparently gets tongue-tied and uses the wrong pronoun (“who” instead of “what”). He starts to say, “Who are you?” But then he switches to “your name” as if he began the sentence with “what.” See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 222.

[15:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “said.”

[15:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

[15:6]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ⁵¹ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement with the additional phrase “burned with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons. Some textual witnesses read “burned…her father’s house,” perhaps under the influence of 14:15. On the other hand, the shorter text may have lost this phrase due to haplography.

[18:3]  ⁵² tn Or “When they were near.”

[18:3]  ⁵³ tn Heb “voice.” This probably means that “his speech was Judahite [i.e., southern] like their own, not Israelite [i.e., northern]” (R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 263).

[18:3]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[18:3]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”

[18:7]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “went.”

[18:7]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

[18:7]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

[18:7]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

[18:7]  ⁶⁰ tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.

[18:28]  ⁶¹ 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]  ⁶² map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[18:28]  ⁶³ tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

[18:28]  ⁶⁴ 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]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:18]  ⁶⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[20:18]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “They arose and went up to Bethel and asked God, and the Israelites said.”

[20:18]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “Who should go up for us first for battle against the sons of Benjamin?”

[21:5]  ⁶⁹ 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.’”

[21:8]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”