Hakim-hakim 2:3

2:3 At that time I also warned you, ¹  ‘If you disobey, ²  I will not drive out the Canaanites ³  before you. They will ensnare you ⁴  and their gods will lure you away.’” ⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 2:15

2:15 Whenever they went out to fight, ⁶  the Lord did them harm, ⁷  just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. ⁸  They suffered greatly. ⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 3:24

3:24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s ¹⁰  servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself ¹¹  in the well-ventilated inner room.” ¹² 

Hakim-hakim 5:10

5:10 You who ride on light-colored female donkeys,

who sit on saddle blankets, ¹³ 

you who walk on the road, pay attention!

Hakim-hakim 6:1

Oppression and Confrontation

6:1 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, ¹⁴  so the Lord turned them over to ¹⁵  Midian for seven years.

Hakim-hakim 8:3

8:3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” ¹⁶  When he said this, they calmed down. ¹⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 8:8

8:8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. ¹⁸  The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. ¹⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 8:23

8:23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”

Hakim-hakim 9:24

9:24 He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother ²⁰  who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them. ²¹ 

Hakim-hakim 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.” ²² 

Hakim-hakim 10:8

10:8 They ruthlessly oppressed ²³  the Israelites that eighteenth year ²⁴  – that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead.

Hakim-hakim 11:2

11:2 Gilead’s wife also gave ²⁵  him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth, ²⁶  because you are another woman’s son.”

Hakim-hakim 11:8

11:8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true, ²⁷  but now we pledge to you our loyalty. ²⁸  Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader ²⁹  of all who live in Gilead.” ³⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 11:19

11:19 Israel sent messengers to King Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Please allow us to pass through your land to our land.” ³¹ 

Hakim-hakim 11:24-25

11:24 You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us. ³²  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? ³³ 

Hakim-hakim 11:34

11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out ³⁴  to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. ³⁵  She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

Hakim-hakim 13:9

13:9 God answered Manoah’s prayer. ³⁶  God’s angelic messenger visited ³⁷  the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her.

Hakim-hakim 16:6

16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.” ³⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 18:10

18:10 When you invade, ³⁹  you will encounter ⁴⁰  unsuspecting people. The land is wide! ⁴¹  God is handing it over to you – a place that lacks nothing on earth!” ⁴² 

Hakim-hakim 19:12

19:12 But his master said to him, “We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. ⁴³  We will travel on to Gibeah.”

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, ⁴⁴  the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, “I and my concubine stopped in ⁴⁵  Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ⁴⁶  to spend the night.

Hakim-hakim 20:25

20:25 The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. ⁴⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 20:27

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

Hakim-hakim 21:7

21:7 How can we find wives for those who are left? ⁴⁸  After all, we took an oath in the Lord’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.”

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “And I also said.” The use of the perfect tense here suggests that the messenger is recalling an earlier statement (see Josh 23:12-13). However, some translate, “And I also say,” understanding the following words as an announcement of judgment upon those gathered at Bokim.

[2:3]  ² tn The words “If you disobey” are supplied in the translation for clarity. See Josh 23:12-13.

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Canaanites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word צִדִּים (tsiddim) is uncertain in this context. It may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning “snare.” If so, a more literal translation would be “they will become snares to you.” Normally the term in question means “sides,” but this makes no sense here. On the basis of Num 33:55 some suggest the word for “thorns” has been accidentally omitted. If this word is added, the text would read, “they will become [thorns] in your sides” (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “their gods will become a snare to you.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tn The expression “to fight” is interpretive.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord’s hand was against them for harm.”

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “just as he had said and just as he had sworn to them.”

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Or “they experienced great distress.”

[3:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his.”

[3:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “covering his feet” (i.e., with his outer garments while he relieves himself).

[3:24]  ¹² tn The Hebrew expression translated “well-ventilated inner room” may refer to the upper room itself or to a bathroom attached to or within it.

[5:10]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִדִּין (middin, “saddle blankets”) in this context is uncertain.

[6:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[6:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gave them into the hand of.”

[8:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”

[8:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”

[8:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”

[8:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.”

[9:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “their brother.”

[9:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerub-Baal might come, and their blood might be placed on Abimelech, their brother, who murdered them, and upon the leaders of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to murder his brothers.”

[9:33]  ²² 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].”

[10:8]  ²³ 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.

[10:8]  ²⁴ 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.

[11:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “bore.”

[11:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in the house of our father.”

[11:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “therefore”; “even so.” For MT לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) the LXX has an opposite reading, “not so,” which seems to be based on the Hebrew words לֹא כֵן (lo’ khen).

[11:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “we have returned to you.” For another example of שׁוּב אֶל (shuv ’el) in the sense of “give allegiance to,” see 1 Kgs 12:27b.

[11:8]  ²⁹ sn Then you will become the leader. The leaders of Gilead now use the word רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “head, leader”), the same term that appeared in their original, general offer (see 10:18). In their initial offer to Jephthah they had simply invited him to be their קָצִין (qatsin, “commander”; v. 6). When he resists they must offer him a more attractive reward – rulership over the region. See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 198.

[11:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “leader of us and all who live in Gilead.”

[11:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “to my place.”

[11:24]  ³² tn Heb “Is it not so that what Chemosh your god causes you to possess, you possess, and all whom the Lord our God dispossesses before us we will possess?” Jephthah speaks of Chemosh as if he is on a par with the Lord God of Israel. This does not necessarily mean that Jephthah is polytheistic or that he recognizes the Lord as only a local deity. He may simply be assuming the Ammonite king’s perspective for the sake of argument. Other texts, as well as the extrabiblical Mesha inscription, associate Chemosh with Moab, while Milcom is identified as the god of the Ammonites. Why then does Jephthah refer to Chemosh as the Ammonite god? Ammon had likely conquered Moab and the Ammonite king probably regarded himself as heir of all territory formerly held by Moab. Originally Moab had owned the disputed territory (cf. Num 21:26-29), meaning that Chemosh was regarded as the god of the region (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 203-4). Jephthah argues that Chemosh had long ago relinquished claim to the area (by allowing Sihon to conquer it), while the Lord had long ago established jurisdiction over it (by taking it from Sihon and giving it to Israel). Both sides should abide by the decisions of the gods which had stood firm for three hundred years.

[11:25]  ³³ 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).

[11:34]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”

[11:34]  ³⁵ tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”

[13:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “God listened to the voice of Manoah.”

[13:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “came to.”

[16:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “how you can be subdued in order to be humiliated.”

[18:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “When you enter.”

[18:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “you will come to.”

[18:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “broad of hands,” an idiom meaning “wide on both sides.”

[18:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

[19:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “who are not from the sons of Israel.”

[20:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “The man, the Levite.”

[20:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “came to.”

[20:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “which belongs to Benjamin.”

[20:25]  ⁴⁷ 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.”

[21:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “What should we do for them, for the remaining ones, concerning wives?”