Hakim-hakim 11:31

11:31 then whoever is the first to come through ¹  the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he ²  will belong to the Lord and ³  I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Hakim-hakim 15:15

15:15 He happened to see ⁴  a solid ⁵  jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it ⁶  and struck down ⁷  a thousand men.

Hakim-hakim 5:29

5:29 The wisest of her ladies ⁸  answer;

indeed she even thinks to herself,

Hakim-hakim 14:5

14:5 Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached ⁹  the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. ¹⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 1:5

1:5 They met ¹¹  Adoni-Bezek at Bezek and fought him. They defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites.

Hakim-hakim 21:20

21:20 So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards,

Hakim-hakim 19:3

19:3 her husband came ¹²  after her, hoping he could convince her to return. ¹³  He brought with him his servant ¹⁴  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. ¹⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 5:27

5:27 Between her feet he collapsed,

he fell limp ¹⁶  and was lifeless; ¹⁷ 

between her feet he collapsed and fell limp,

in the spot where he collapsed,

there he fell limp – violently murdered! ¹⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 16:1

Samson’s Downfall

16:1 Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went in to have sex with her. ¹⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 18:31

18:31 They worshiped ²⁰  Micah’s carved image ²¹  the whole time God’s authorized shrine ²²  was in Shiloh.

Hakim-hakim 4:22

4:22 Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, “Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.” He went with her into the tent, ²³  and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead ²⁴  with the tent peg in his temple.

Hakim-hakim 1:14

1:14 One time Acsah ²⁵  came and charmed her father ²⁶  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 1:24

1:24 the spies spotted ²⁷  a man leaving the city. They said to him, “If you show us a secret entrance into the city, we will reward you.”

Hakim-hakim 3:24-25

3:24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s ²⁸  servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself ²⁹  in the well-ventilated inner room.” ³⁰  3:25 They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors. ³¹  Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor! ³² 

Hakim-hakim 4:18

4:18 Jael came out to welcome Sisera. She said to him, “Stop and rest, ³³  my lord. Stop and rest with me. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera ³⁴  stopped to rest in her tent, and she put a blanket over him.

Hakim-hakim 6:35

6:35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh and summoned them to follow him as well. ³⁵  He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him.

Hakim-hakim 11:34

11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out ³⁶  to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. ³⁷  She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

Hakim-hakim 19:23

19:23 The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

Hakim-hakim 8:15

8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ³⁸  Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, ‘You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’” ³⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 14:8

14:8 Some time later, when he went back to marry ⁴⁰  her, he turned aside to see the lion’s remains. He saw ⁴¹  a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass, as well as some honey.

Hakim-hakim 15:1

Samson Versus the Philistines

15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, ⁴²  Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. ⁴³  He said to her father, ⁴⁴  “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” ⁴⁵  But her father would not let him enter.

Hakim-hakim 15:14

15:14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered ⁴⁶  him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in ⁴⁷  fire, and they ⁴⁸  melted away from his hands.

[11:31]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[15:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “he found.”

[15:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “fresh,” i.e., not decayed and brittle.

[15:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “he reached out his hand and took it.”

[15:15]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds “with it.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:29]  ⁸ tn Or “princesses.”

[14:5]  ⁹ tc The MT reads, “Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When they approached…” Verse 6b states that Samson did not tell his parents about his encounter with the lion (vv. 5b-6a), but v. 5a gives the impression they would have seen the entire episode. One could assume that Samson separated from his parents prior to the lion’s attack, but the Hebrew text does not indicate this. It seems more likely that the words “with his father and his mother” were accidentally copied into the text, perhaps under the influence of v. 4a, where the same phrase appears. An original singular verb (“he approached”) may have been changed to the plural form (“they approached”) after the words “his father and his mother” were accidentally added to the text.

[14:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and look, a young lion of the lions was roaring to meet him.”

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “found.”

[19:3]  ¹² tn Heb “arose and came.”

[19:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “to speak to her heart to bring her back.”

[19:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “young man.”

[19:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he was happy to meet him.”

[5:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he fell.” The same Hebrew expression occurs two more times in this verse.

[5:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he lay.

[5:27]  ¹⁸ tn Or “dead, murdered.”

[16:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he went in to her.” The idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations.

[18:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they set up for themselves.”

[18:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “the carved image that Micah had made.”

[18:31]  ²² tn Heb “the house of God.”

[4:22]  ²³ tn Heb “he went to her.”

[4:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “fallen, dead.”

[1:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:14]  ²⁶ 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.”

[1:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “saw.”

[3:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “his.”

[3:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “covering his feet” (i.e., with his outer garments while he relieves himself).

[3:24]  ³⁰ 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.

[3:25]  ³¹ tn The words “the doors” are supplied.

[3:25]  ³² tn Heb “See, their master, fallen to the ground, dead.”

[4:18]  ³³ tn Heb “Turn aside” (also a second time later in this verse).

[4:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:35]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and he also was summoned after him.”

[11:34]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”

[11:34]  ³⁷ tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”

[8:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Look!” The words “what I have” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”

[8:15]  sn Gideon changes their actual statement (see v. 6) by saying exhausted men rather than “army.” In this way he emphasizes the crisis his men were facing and highlights the insensitivity of the men of Succoth.

[14:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “get.”

[14:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and look, a swarm of bees…”

[15:1]  ⁴² sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.

[15:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”

[15:1]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).

[15:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “I will go to my wife in the bedroom.” The Hebrew idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations. The cohortative form used by Samson can be translated as indicating resolve (“I want to go”) or request (“let me go”).

[15:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “rushed on.”

[15:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “burned with.”

[15:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “his bonds.”