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 5:10

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

who sit on saddle blankets, ³ 

you who walk on the road, pay attention!

Hakim-hakim 5:15

5:15 Issachar’s leaders were with Deborah,

the men of Issachar ⁴  supported ⁵  Barak;

into the valley they were sent under Barak’s command. ⁶ 

Among the clans of Reuben there was intense ⁷  heart searching. ⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 6:4

6:4 They invaded the land ⁹  and devoured ¹⁰  its crops ¹¹  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ¹²  and they took away ¹³  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Hakim-hakim 7:1

Gideon Reduces the Ranks

7:1 Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men ¹⁴  got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. ¹⁵  The Midianites ¹⁶  were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

Hakim-hakim 7:17

7:17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! ¹⁷  I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do!

Hakim-hakim 7:21

7:21 They stood in order ¹⁸  all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. ¹⁹ 

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?” ²⁰  When he said this, they calmed down. ²¹ 

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 ²²  who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them. ²³ 

Hakim-hakim 9:27

9:27 They went out to the field, harvested their grapes, ²⁴  squeezed out the juice, ²⁵  and celebrated. They came to the temple ²⁶  of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelech.

Hakim-hakim 9:43

9:43 he took his men ²⁷  and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, ²⁸  he attacked and struck them down. ²⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 10:15

10:15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, ³⁰  but deliver us today!” ³¹ 

Hakim-hakim 11:24

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 

Hakim-hakim 13:9

13:9 God answered Manoah’s prayer. ³³  God’s angelic messenger visited ³⁴  the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her.

Hakim-hakim 15:2

15:2 Her father said, “I really thought ³⁵  you absolutely despised ³⁶  her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” ³⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 16:14

16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ³⁸  Samson!” ³⁹  He woke up ⁴⁰  and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.

Hakim-hakim 18:22

18:22 After they had gone a good distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors ⁴¹  gathered together and caught up with the Danites.

Hakim-hakim 19:1

Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited

19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite ⁴²  living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine ⁴³  from Bethlehem ⁴⁴  in Judah.

Hakim-hakim 19:4

19:4 His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay with him for three days, and they ate and drank together, and spent the night there.

Hakim-hakim 19:15

19:15 They stopped there and decided to spend the night ⁴⁵  in Gibeah. They came into the city and sat down in the town square, but no one invited them to spend the night. ⁴⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 20:22

20:22 The Israelite army ⁴⁷  took heart ⁴⁸  and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

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 20:34

20:34 Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. ⁴⁹  But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. ⁵⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 20:39

20:39 the Israelites counterattacked. ⁵¹  Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; ⁵²  they struck down ⁵³  about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”

Hakim-hakim 20:46

20:46 That day twenty-five thousand ⁵⁴  sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. ⁵⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 21:12

21:12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins – they had never had sexual relations with a male. ⁵⁶  They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

[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?”

[5:10]  ³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִדִּין (middin, “saddle blankets”) in this context is uncertain.

[5:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “Issachar.” The words “the men of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:15]  ⁵ tn Or “was true to.”

[5:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “at his feet.”

[5:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “great was.”

[5:15]  ⁸ tc The great majority of Hebrew mss have “resolves of heart,” but a few mss read “searchings of heart,” which is preferable in light of v. 16.

[6:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “They encamped against them.”

[6:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “destroyed.”

[6:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the crops of the land.”

[6:4]  ¹² tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”

[6:4]  ¹³ tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and all the people who were with him.”

[7:1]  ¹⁵ sn The name Harod means, ironically, “trembling.”

[7:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Midian.” The LXX reads “and Amalek” (cf. v. 12; 6:33).

[7:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “look.”

[7:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “each in his place.”

[7:21]  ¹⁹ tn Or “fled.”

[8:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”

[8:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”

[9:24]  ²² tn Heb “their brother.”

[9:24]  ²³ 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.”

[9:27]  ²⁴ tn Heb “vineyards.”

[9:27]  ²⁵ tn Heb “stomped” or “trampled.” This refers to the way in which the juice was squeezed out in the wine vats by stepping on the grapes with one’s bare feet. For a discussion of grape harvesting in ancient Israel, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-14.

[9:27]  ²⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[9:43]  ²⁷ tn Heb “his people.”

[9:43]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”

[9:43]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”

[10:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “according to all whatever is good in your eyes.”

[10:15]  ³¹ sn You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today. The request seems contradictory, but it can be explained in one of two ways. They may be asking for relief from their enemies and direct discipline from God’s hand. Or they may mean, “In the future you can do whatever you like to us, but give us relief from what we’re suffering right now.”

[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.

[13:9]  ³³ tn Heb “God listened to the voice of Manoah.”

[13:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “came to.”

[15:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “saying, I said.” The first person form of אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) sometimes indicates self-reflection. The girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[15:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[15:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Is her younger sister not better than her? Let her [i.e., the younger sister] be yours instead of her [i.e., Samson’s ‘bride’]).”

[16:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:14]  ³⁹ tc The MT of vv. 13b-14a reads simply, “He said to her, ‘If you weave the seven braids of my head with the web.’ And she fastened with the pin and said to him.” The additional words in the translation, “and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.’ 16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom,” which without doubt represent the original text, are supplied from the ancient Greek version. (In both vv. 13b and 14a the Greek version has “to the wall” after “with the pin,” but this is an interpretive addition that reflects a misunderstanding of ancient weaving equipment. See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 353-54.) The Hebrew textual tradition was accidentally shortened during the copying process. A scribe’s eye jumped from the first instance of “with the web” to the second, causing him to leave out inadvertently the intervening words.

[16:14]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[18:22]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house.”

[19:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “a man, a Levite.”

[19:1]  ⁴³ sn See the note on the word “concubine” in 8:31.

[19:1]  ⁴⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[19:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they turned aside there to enter to spend the night.”

[19:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and he entered and sat down, and there was no one receiving them into the house to spend the night.”

[20:22]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “The people, the men of Israel.”

[20:22]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “encouraged one another.”

[20:34]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”

[20:34]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”

[20:39]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “turned in the battle.”

[20:39]  ⁵² tn Heb “And Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel.”

[20:39]  ⁵³ tn The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[20:46]  ⁵⁴ sn The number given here (twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites) is an approximate figure; v. 35 gives the more exact number (25,100). According to v. 15, the Benjaminite army numbered 26,700 (26,000 + 700). The figures in vv. 35 (rounded in vv. 44-46) and 47 add up to 25,700. What happened to the other 1,000 men? The most reasonable explanation is that they were killed during the first two days of fighting. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 429) and C. F. Burney (Judges, 475) reject this proposal, arguing that the narrator is too precise and concerned about details to omit such a fact. However, the account of the first two days’ fighting emphasizes Israel’s humiliating defeat. To speak of Benjaminite casualties would diminish the literary effect. In vv. 35, 44-47 the narrator’s emphasis is the devastating defeat that Benjamin experienced on this final day of battle. To mention the earlier days’ casualties at this point is irrelevant to his literary purpose. He allows readers who happen to be concerned with such details to draw conclusions for themselves.

[20:46]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “So all the ones who fell from Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men, wielding the sword, in that day, all of these men of strength.

[21:12]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “who had not known a man with respect to the bed of a male.”