Hakim-hakim 1:2

1:2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. ¹  Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.” ² 

Hakim-hakim 4:4

4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, ³  wife of Lappidoth, was ⁴  leading ⁵  Israel at that time.

Hakim-hakim 4:23

4:23 That day God humiliated King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites.

Hakim-hakim 5:25

5:25 He asked for water,

and she gave him milk;

in a bowl fit for a king, ⁶ 

she served him curds.

Hakim-hakim 21:11

21:11 Do this: ⁷  exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. ⁸  But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. ⁹ 

[1:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Judah should go up.”

[1:2]  ² tn The Hebrew exclamation הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally, “Behold”), translated “Be sure of this,” draws attention to the following statement. The verb form in the following statement (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”

[4:4]  ³ tn Heb “ a woman, a prophetess.” In Hebrew idiom the generic “woman” sometimes precedes the more specific designation. See GKC 437-38 §135.b.

[4:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “she was.” The pronoun refers back to the nominative absolute “Deborah.” Hebrew style sometimes employs such resumptive pronouns when lengthy qualifiers separate the subject from the verb.

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Or “judging.”

[5:25]  ⁶ tn Or “for mighty ones.”

[21:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”

[21:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.”

[21:11]  ⁹ tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (ve’et-habbÿtulot tÿkhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vÿ’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.