Hakim-hakim 18:20

18:20 The priest was happy. He took the ephod, the personal idols, and the carved image and joined the group. ¹ 

Hakim-hakim 8:16

8:16 He seized the leaders ²  of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. ³ 

Hakim-hakim 11:15

11:15 and said to him, “This is what Jephthah says, ‘Israel did not steal ⁴  the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites.

Hakim-hakim 14:11

14:11 When the Philistines saw he had no attendants, they gave him thirty groomsmen who kept him company. ⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 3:25

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. ⁶  Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor! ⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 13:19

13:19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. The Lord’s messenger did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. ⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 19:1

Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited

19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite ⁹  living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine ¹⁰  from Bethlehem ¹¹  in Judah.

Hakim-hakim 19:29

19:29 When he got home, he took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces. ¹²  Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel. ¹³ 

Hakim-hakim 14:3

14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our ¹⁴  people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.” ¹⁵  But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, ¹⁶  because she is the right one for me.” ¹⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 3:6

3:6 They took the Canaanites’ daughters as wives and gave their daughters to the Canaanites; ¹⁸  they worshiped ¹⁹  their gods as well.

Hakim-hakim 6:20

6:20 God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, ²⁰  and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. ²¹ 

Hakim-hakim 14:2

14:2 When he got home, ²²  he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. ²³  Now get her for my wife.”

Hakim-hakim 15:4

15:4 Samson went and captured three hundred jackals ²⁴  and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair. ²⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 4:21

4:21 Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. ²⁶  She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground ²⁷  while he was asleep from exhaustion, ²⁸  and he died.

Hakim-hakim 8:21

8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ²⁹  “Come on, ³⁰  you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” ³¹  So Gideon killed ³²  Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

Hakim-hakim 17:2

17:2 He said to his mother, “You know ³³  the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen ³⁴  from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole ³⁵  it, but now I am giving it back to you.” ³⁶  His mother said, “May the Lord reward ³⁷  you, my son!”

Hakim-hakim 17:4

17:4 When he gave the silver back to his mother, she ³⁸  took two hundred pieces of silver ³⁹  to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. ⁴⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 18:18

18:18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole ⁴¹  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

Hakim-hakim 18:24

18:24 He said, “You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” ⁴² 

Hakim-hakim 9:43

9:43 he took his men ⁴³  and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, ⁴⁴  he attacked and struck them down. ⁴⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 14:19

14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes ⁴⁶  and gave them ⁴⁷  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. ⁴⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 16:12

16:12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ⁴⁹  Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) ⁵⁰  But he tore the ropes ⁵¹  from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

Hakim-hakim 18:17

18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole ⁵²  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. ⁵³ 

Hakim-hakim 20:10

20:10 We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army. ⁵⁴  When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel.” ⁵⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 6:25

Gideon Destroys the Altar

6:25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. ⁵⁶  Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.

Hakim-hakim 7:8

7:8 The men ⁵⁷  who were chosen ⁵⁸  took supplies ⁵⁹  and their trumpets. Gideon ⁶⁰  sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; ⁶¹  he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites ⁶²  were camped down below ⁶³  in the valley.

Hakim-hakim 15:6

15:6 The Philistines asked, ⁶⁴  “Who did this?” They were told, ⁶⁵  “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite ⁶⁶  took Samson’s ⁶⁷  bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. ⁶⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 6:26-27

6:26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. ⁶⁹  Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.” 6:27 So Gideon took ten of his servants ⁷⁰  and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family ⁷¹  and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime. ⁷² 

Hakim-hakim 11:13

11:13 The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel stole ⁷³  my land when they ⁷⁴  came up from Egypt – from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan. ⁷⁵  Now return it ⁷⁶  peaceably!”

Hakim-hakim 14:8

14:8 Some time later, when he went back to marry ⁷⁷  her, he turned aside to see the lion’s remains. He saw ⁷⁸  a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass, as well as some honey.

Hakim-hakim 18:27

18:27 Now the Danites ⁷⁹  took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. ⁸⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 21:23

21:23 The Benjaminites did as instructed. ⁸¹  They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. ⁸²  They went home ⁸³  to their own territory, ⁸⁴  rebuilt their cities, and settled down. ⁸⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 9:48

9:48 He and all his men ⁸⁶  went up on Mount Zalmon. He ⁸⁷  took an ax ⁸⁸  in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it ⁸⁹  on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” ⁹⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 5:26

5:26 Her left ⁹¹  hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.

She “hammered” ⁹²  Sisera,

she shattered his skull, ⁹³ 

she smashed his head, ⁹⁴ 

she drove the tent peg through his temple. ⁹⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 4:6

4:6 She summoned ⁹⁶  Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “Is it not true that the Lord God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun!

Hakim-hakim 15:2

15:2 Her father said, “I really thought ⁹⁷  you absolutely despised ⁹⁸  her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” ⁹⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 20:6

20:6 I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces ¹⁰⁰  throughout the territory occupied by Israel, ¹⁰¹  because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity ¹⁰²  in Israel.

Hakim-hakim 14:9

14:9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned ¹⁰³  to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass. ¹⁰⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 3:13

3:13 Eglon formed alliances with ¹⁰⁵  the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees.

Hakim-hakim 15:15

15:15 He happened to see ¹⁰⁶  a solid ¹⁰⁷  jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it ¹⁰⁸  and struck down ¹⁰⁹  a thousand men.

Hakim-hakim 8:13

8:13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the pass ¹¹⁰  of Heres.

Hakim-hakim 9:50

9:50 Abimelech moved on ¹¹¹  to Thebez; he besieged and captured it. ¹¹² 

Hakim-hakim 11:21

11:21 The Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and his whole army over to Israel and they defeated them. Israel took ¹¹³  all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land.

Hakim-hakim 1:8

1:8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They put the sword to it and set the city on fire.

Hakim-hakim 11:26

11:26 Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time?

Hakim-hakim 12:9

12:9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, ¹¹⁴  and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. ¹¹⁵  Ibzan ¹¹⁶  led ¹¹⁷  Israel for seven years;

Hakim-hakim 16:31

16:31 His brothers and all his family ¹¹⁸  went down and brought him back. ¹¹⁹  They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led ¹²⁰  Israel for twenty years.

Hakim-hakim 1:12-13

1:12 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife.” 1:13 When Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, ¹²¹  captured it, Caleb ¹²²  gave him his daughter Acsah as a wife.

Hakim-hakim 1:19

1:19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered ¹²³  the hill country, but they could not ¹²⁴  conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels. ¹²⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 2:6

The End of an Era

2:6 When Joshua dismissed ¹²⁶  the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory, ¹²⁷  intending to take possession of the land.

Hakim-hakim 5:6

5:6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael caravans ¹²⁸  disappeared; ¹²⁹ 

travelers ¹³⁰  had to go on winding side roads.

Hakim-hakim 5:19

5:19 Kings came, they fought;

the kings of Canaan fought,

at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, ¹³¹ 

but ¹³²  they took no silver as plunder.

Hakim-hakim 11:5

11:5 When the Ammonites attacked, ¹³³  the leaders ¹³⁴  of Gilead asked Jephthah to come back ¹³⁵  from the land of Tob.

Hakim-hakim 11:22

11:22 They took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River on the south to the Jabbok River on the north, from the desert in the east to the Jordan in the west. ¹³⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 3:28

3:28 He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!” ¹³⁷  They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River ¹³⁸  opposite Moab, ¹³⁹  and did not let anyone cross.

Hakim-hakim 7:24

Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites

7:24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. ¹⁴⁰  Take control of the fords of the streams ¹⁴¹  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” ¹⁴²  When all the Ephraimites had assembled, ¹⁴³  they took control of the fords ¹⁴⁴  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.

Hakim-hakim 18:9

18:9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them, ¹⁴⁵  for ¹⁴⁶  we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, ¹⁴⁷  but don’t hesitate ¹⁴⁸  to invade and conquer ¹⁴⁹  the land.

Hakim-hakim 19:25

19:25 The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite ¹⁵⁰  grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. ¹⁵¹  They raped ¹⁵²  her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.

Hakim-hakim 1:18

1:18 The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the territory surrounding each of these cities. ¹⁵³ 

Hakim-hakim 6:3

6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, ¹⁵⁴  the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack them. ¹⁵⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 6:18

6:18 Do not leave this place until I come back ¹⁵⁶  with a gift ¹⁵⁷  and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.”

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 9:4

9:4 They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous ¹⁵⁸  men as his followers. ¹⁵⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 9:45

9:45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled ¹⁶⁰  the city and spread salt over it. ¹⁶¹ 

Hakim-hakim 11:9

11:9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right! ¹⁶²  If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, ¹⁶³  I will be your leader.” ¹⁶⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 11:23-24

11:23 Since ¹⁶⁵  the Lord God of Israel has driven out ¹⁶⁶  the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? ¹⁶⁷  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. ¹⁶⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 21:22

21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, ¹⁶⁹  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ¹⁷⁰  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ¹⁷¹  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ¹⁷²  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ¹⁷³ 

Hakim-hakim 6:19

6:19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, ¹⁷⁴  along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food ¹⁷⁵  to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.

Hakim-hakim 6:39

6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. ¹⁷⁶  Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” ¹⁷⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 9:16

9:16 “Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, ¹⁷⁸  if you have properly repaid him ¹⁷⁹  –

Hakim-hakim 11:18

11:18 Then Israel ¹⁸⁰  went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; ¹⁸¹  they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab’s border).

Hakim-hakim 12:5

12:5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan River ¹⁸²  opposite Ephraim. ¹⁸³  Whenever an Ephraimite fugitive ¹⁸⁴  said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked ¹⁸⁵  him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”

Hakim-hakim 14:15

14:15 On the fourth ¹⁸⁶  day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. ¹⁸⁷  If you refuse, ¹⁸⁸  we will burn up ¹⁸⁹  you and your father’s family. ¹⁹⁰  Did you invite us here ¹⁹¹  to make us poor?” ¹⁹² 

Hakim-hakim 15:1

Samson Versus the Philistines

15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, ¹⁹³  Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. ¹⁹⁴  He said to her father, ¹⁹⁵  “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” ¹⁹⁶  But her father would not let him enter.

Hakim-hakim 15:11

15:11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.”

Hakim-hakim 16:24

16:24 When the people saw him, ¹⁹⁷  they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!” ¹⁹⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 19:24

19:24 Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s ¹⁹⁹  concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. ²⁰⁰  But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!”

Hakim-hakim 19:30

19:30 Everyone who saw the sight ²⁰¹  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ²⁰²  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ²⁰³  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

[18:20]  ¹ tn Heb “and went into the midst of the people.”

[8:16]  ² tn Heb “elders.”

[8:16]  ³ tc The translation follows the reading of several ancient versions (LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) in assuming the form וַיָּדָשׁ (vayyadash) from the verb דּוֹשׁ (dosh, “thresh”) as in v. 7. The MT reads instead the form וַיֹּדַע (vayyoda’, “make known”), a Hiphil form of יָדַע (yadah). In this case one could translate, “he used them [i.e., the thorns and briers] to teach the men of Succoth a lesson.”

[11:15]  ⁴ tn Or “take”; or “seize.”

[14:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “When they saw him, they gave him thirty companions and they were with him.” Instead of כִּרְאוֹתָם (kir’otam, “when they saw”) some ancient witnesses (e.g., some mss of the LXX) assume the reading בְּיִרְאָתָם (bÿyir’atam, “because they feared”).

[3:25]  ⁶ tn The words “the doors” are supplied.

[3:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “See, their master, fallen to the ground, dead.”

[13:19]  ⁸ tc Heb “Doing an extraordinary deed while Manoah and his wife were watching.” The subject of the participle is missing. The translation assumes that the phrase “the Lord’s messenger” was lost by homoioteleuton. If the text originally read לַיהוָה מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה (layhavah mal’akh yÿhvah), the scribe’s eye could have jumped from the first יְהוָה to the second, accidentally omitting two of the three words. Later the conjunction וּ (shureq) would have been added to the following מַפְלִא (mafli’) for syntactical reasons. Another possibility is that a pronominal subject (הוּא, hu’) has been lost in the MT due to haplography.

[19:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man, a Levite.”

[19:1]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on the word “concubine” in 8:31.

[19:1]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[19:29]  ¹² tn Heb “he carved her up by her bones into twelve pieces.”

[19:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he sent her through all the territory of Israel.”

[14:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading.

[14:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?”

[14:3]  ¹⁶ tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357.

[14:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”

[3:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to their sons.”

[3:6]  ¹⁹ tn Or “served”; or “followed” (this term occurs in the following verse as well).

[6:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Take the meat…and put [it] on this rock.”

[6:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he did so.”

[14:2]  ²² tn Heb “and he went up.”

[14:2]  ²³ tn Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”

[15:4]  ²⁴ tn Traditionally, “foxes.”

[15:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “He turned tail to tail and placed one torch between the two tails in the middle.”

[4:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “took a tent peg and put a hammer in her hand.”

[4:21]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and it went into the ground.”

[4:21]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and exhausted.” Another option is to understand this as a reference to the result of the fatal blow. In this case, the phrase could be translated, “and he breathed his last.”

[8:21]  ²⁹ tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:21]  ³⁰ tn Or “Arise.”

[8:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”

[8:21]  ³² tn Heb “arose and killed.”

[17:2]  ³³ tn The words “You know” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[17:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “taken.”

[17:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “took.”

[17:2]  ³⁶ tn In the Hebrew text the statement, “but now I am giving it back to you,” appears at the end of v. 3 and is spoken by the mother. But v. 4 indicates that she did not give the money back to her son. Unless the statement is spoken by the woman to the LORD, it appears to be misplaced and fits much better in v. 2. It may have been accidentally omitted from a manuscript, written in the margin, and then later inserted in the wrong place in another manuscript.

[17:2]  ³⁷ tn Traditionally, “bless.”

[17:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.

[17:4]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”

[18:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “These went into Micah’s house and took.”

[18:24]  ⁴² tn Heb “What is this you say to me, ‘What to you?’”

[9:43]  ⁴³ tn Heb “his people.”

[9:43]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”

[9:43]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”

[14:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”

[14:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”

[14:19]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”

[16:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:12]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting in the bedroom.”

[16:12]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the ropes) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:17]  ⁵² tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”

[18:17]  ⁵³ tn Heb “six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war.”

[20:10]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “people.”

[20:10]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “to do at their arrival in Geba of Benjamin according to all the disgraceful [thing] which he [collective = “Benjamin”] did in Israel.” Here “Geba” must be an error for “Gibeah.”

[6:25]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “Take a bull from your father’s herd, the second one, the one seven years old.” Apparently Gideon would need the bulls to pull down the altar.

[7:8]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “The people.”

[7:8]  ⁵⁸ tn The words “who were chosen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:8]  ⁵⁹ tn The Hebrew text has “in their hands.”

[7:8]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:8]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “tents.”

[7:8]  ⁶² tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:8]  ⁶³ tn The Hebrew text adds “him” (i.e., Gideon).

[15:6]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “said.”

[15:6]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

[15:6]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ⁶⁸ 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.

[6:26]  ⁶⁹ tn Possibly “in a row” or “in a layer,” perhaps referring to the arrangement of the stones used in the altar’s construction.

[6:27]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “men from among his servants.”

[6:27]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “house.”

[6:27]  ⁷² tn Heb “so he did it at night.”

[11:13]  ⁷³ tn Or “took”; or “seized.”

[11:13]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “he” (a collective singular).

[11:13]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan.” The word “River” has been supplied in the translation with “Arnon” and “Jabbok,” because these are less familiar to modern readers than the Jordan.

[11:13]  ⁷⁶ tc The translation assumes a singular suffix (“[return] it”); the Hebrew text has a plural suffix (“[return] them”), which, if retained, might refer to the cities of the land.

[14:8]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “get.”

[14:8]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “and look, a swarm of bees…”

[18:27]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:27]  ⁸⁰ tn The Hebrew adds “with fire.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.

[21:23]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “did so.”

[21:23]  ⁸² tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”

[21:23]  ⁸³ tn Heb “went and returned.”

[21:23]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “inheritance.”

[21:23]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “and lived in them.”

[9:48]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “his people.”

[9:48]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.

[9:48]  ⁸⁸ tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.

[9:48]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”

[9:48]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”

[5:26]  ⁹¹ tn The adjective “left” is interpretive, based on the context. Note that the next line pictures Jael holding the hammer with her right hand.

[5:26]  ⁹² tn The verb used here is from the same root as the noun “hammer” in the preceding line.

[5:26]  ⁹³ tn Or “head.”

[5:26]  ⁹⁴ tn The phrase “his head” (an implied direct object) is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:26]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “she pierced his temple.”

[4:6]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “sent and summoned.”

[15:2]  ⁹⁷ 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]  ⁹⁸ tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[15:2]  ⁹⁹ 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’]).”

[20:6]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “her”; the referent is more naturally stated in English as “the pieces.”

[20:6]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel.”

[20:6]  ¹⁰² tn Heb “a wicked and disgraceful [thing].”

[14:9]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “went.” Samson apparently went home to his parents before going to Timnah for the marriage. Seeing and tasting the honey appears to encourage Manoah to go with his son to Timnah. Perhaps both Samson and his father viewed the honey as a good omen of future blessing. Possibly Samson considered it a symbol of sexual pleasure or an aphrodisiac. Note the use of honey imagery in Song 4:11 and 5:1.

[14:9]  ¹⁰⁴ sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6.

[3:13]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “and he gathered to him.”

[15:15]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “he found.”

[15:15]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Heb “fresh,” i.e., not decayed and brittle.

[15:15]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “he reached out his hand and took it.”

[15:15]  ¹⁰⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds “with it.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:13]  ¹¹⁰ tn Or “ascent.”

[9:50]  ¹¹¹ tn Or “went.”

[9:50]  ¹¹² tn Heb “he camped near Thebez and captured it.”

[11:21]  ¹¹³ tn That is, took as its own possession.

[12:9]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “thirty daughters he sent off outside.” Another option is to translate, “He arranged for his thirty daughters…” It is not clear if he had more than the “thirty daughters” mentioned in the text.

[12:9]  ¹¹⁵ tn Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”

[12:9]  ¹¹⁶ tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.

[12:9]  ¹¹⁷ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

[16:31]  ¹¹⁸ tn Heb “and all the house of his father.”

[16:31]  ¹¹⁹ tn Heb “and lifted him up and brought up.”

[16:31]  ¹²⁰ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

[1:13]  ¹²¹ tn “Caleb’s younger brother” may refer to Othniel or to Kenaz (in which case Othniel was Caleb’s nephew; so CEV).

[1:13]  ¹²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Caleb) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:19]  ¹²³ tn Or “seized possession of”; or “occupied.”

[1:19]  ¹²⁴ tc Several textual witnesses support the inclusion of this verb.

[1:19]  ¹²⁵ tn Regarding the translation “chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,” see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 255, and the article by R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15-23.

[2:6]  ¹²⁶ tn Or “sent away.”

[2:6]  ¹²⁷ tn Heb “the Israelites went each to his inheritance.”

[5:6]  ¹²⁸ tc The translation assumes the form אֳרְחוֹת (’orÿkhot, “caravans”) rather than אֳרָחוֹת (’orakhot, “roadways”) because it makes a tighter parallel with “travelers” in the next line.

[5:6]  ¹²⁹ tn Or “ceased.”

[5:6]  ¹³⁰ tn Heb “Ones walking on paths.”

[5:19]  ¹³¹ map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.

[5:19]  ¹³² tn The contrastive conjunction “but” is interpretive.

[11:5]  ¹³³ tn Heb “When the Ammonites fought with Israel.”

[11:5]  ¹³⁴ tn Or “elders.”

[11:5]  ¹³⁵ tn Heb “went to take Jephthah.”

[11:22]  ¹³⁶ tn Heb “from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the desert to the Jordan.” The word “River” has been supplied in the translation with “Arnon” and “Jabbok,” because these are less familiar to modern readers than the Jordan.

[3:28]  ¹³⁷ tn Heb “for the Lord has given your enemies, Moab, into your hand.” The verb form (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.”

[3:28]  ¹³⁸ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.

[3:28]  ¹³⁹ tn Or “against Moab,” that is, so as to prevent the Moabites from crossing.

[7:24]  ¹⁴⁰ tn Heb “to meet Midian.”

[7:24]  ¹⁴¹ tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”

[7:24]  ¹⁴² tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).

[7:24]  ¹⁴³ tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”

[7:24]  ¹⁴⁴ tn Heb “they captured the waters.”

[18:9]  ¹⁴⁵ tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”

[18:9]  ¹⁴⁶ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”

[18:9]  ¹⁴⁷ tn Heb “But you are inactive.”

[18:9]  ¹⁴⁸ tn Or “be lazy.”

[18:9]  ¹⁴⁹ tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”

[19:25]  ¹⁵⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:25]  ¹⁵¹ tn Heb “and he caused [her] to go outside to them.”

[19:25]  ¹⁵² tn Heb “knew,” in the sexual sense.

[1:18]  ¹⁵³ tn Heb “The men of Judah captured Gaza and its surrounding territory, Ashkelon and its surrounding territory, and Ekron and its surrounding territory.”

[6:3]  ¹⁵⁴ tn Heb “Whenever Israel sowed seed.”

[6:3]  ¹⁵⁵ tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east would go up, they would go up against him.” The translation assumes that וְעָלוּ (vÿ’alu) is dittographic (note the following עָלָיו, ’alayv).

[6:18]  ¹⁵⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds “to you,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:18]  ¹⁵⁷ tn Heb “and I will bring out my gift.” The precise nuance of the Hebrew word מִנְחָה (minkhah, “gift”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a gift offered as a sign of goodwill or submission. In some cases it is used of a gift offered to appease someone whom the offerer has offended. The word can also carry a sacrificial connotation.

[9:4]  ¹⁵⁸ tn Heb “empty and reckless.”

[9:4]  ¹⁵⁹ tn Heb “and they followed him.”

[9:45]  ¹⁶⁰ tn Or “destroyed.”

[9:45]  ¹⁶¹ tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”

[9:45]  sn The spreading of salt over the city was probably a symbolic act designed to place the site under a curse, deprive it of fertility, and prevent any future habitation. The practice is referred to outside the Bible as well. For example, one of the curses in the Aramaic Sefire treaty states concerning Arpad: “May Hadad sow in them salt and weeds, and may it not be mentioned again!” See J. A. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire (BibOr), 15, 53. Deut 29:23, Jer 17:6, and Zeph 2:9 associate salt flats or salty regions with infertility and divine judgment.

[11:9]  ¹⁶² tn “All right” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:9]  ¹⁶³ tn Heb “places them before me.”

[11:9]  ¹⁶⁴ tn Some translate the final statement as a question, “will I really be your leader?” An affirmative sentence is preferable. Jephthah is repeating the terms of the agreement in an official manner. In v. 10 the leaders legally agree to these terms.

[11:23]  ¹⁶⁵ tn Heb “Now.”

[11:23]  ¹⁶⁶ tn Or “dispossessed.”

[11:23]  ¹⁶⁷ tn Heb “will you dispossess him [i.e., Israel; or possibly “it,” i.e., the territory]?” There is no interrogative marker in the Hebrew text.

[11:24]  ¹⁶⁸ 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.

[21:22]  ¹⁶⁹ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

[21:22]  ¹⁷⁰ tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:22]  ¹⁷¹ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

[21:22]  sn Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.

[21:22]  ¹⁷² tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

[21:22]  ¹⁷³ tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.

[6:19]  ¹⁷⁴ tn Heb “a kid from among the goats.”

[6:19]  ¹⁷⁵ tn The words “the food” are not in the Hebrew text (an implied direct object). They are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[6:39]  ¹⁷⁶ tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”

[6:39]  ¹⁷⁷ tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”

[9:16]  ¹⁷⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[9:16]  ¹⁷⁹ tn Heb “if according to the deeds of his hands you have done to him.”

[11:18]  ¹⁸⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel; the pronoun in the Hebrew text represents a collective singular) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:18]  ¹⁸¹ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[12:5]  ¹⁸² tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:5]  ¹⁸³ tn Or “against Ephraim,” that is, so as to prevent Ephraim from crossing.

[12:5]  ¹⁸⁴ tn The Hebrew text has a plural form here.

[12:5]  ¹⁸⁵ tn Heb “say to.”

[14:15]  ¹⁸⁶ tc The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי (rÿvi’i, “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי (shÿvi’i, “seventh”). Some ancient textual witnesses (e.g., LXX and the Syriac Peshitta) read “fourth,” here, which certainly harmonizes better with the preceding verse (cf. “for three days”) and with v. 17. Another option is to change שְׁלֹשֶׁת (shÿloshet, “three”) at the end of v. 14 to שֵׁשֶׁת (sheshet, “six”), but the resulting scenario does not account as well for v. 17, which implies the bride had been hounding Samson for more than one day.

[14:15]  ¹⁸⁷ tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”

[14:15]  ¹⁸⁸ tn Heb “lest.”

[14:15]  ¹⁸⁹ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement: “burn up with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:15]  ¹⁹⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[14:15]  ¹⁹¹ tc The translation assumes the Hebrew form הֲלֹם (halom, “here,” attested in five Hebrew mss and supported by the Targum), instead of the inexplicable הֲלֹא (halo’), a negative particle with interrogative particle prefixed to it.

[14:15]  ¹⁹² tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364.

[15:1]  ¹⁹³ sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.

[15:1]  ¹⁹⁴ tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”

[15:1]  ¹⁹⁵ tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).

[15:1]  ¹⁹⁶ 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”).

[16:24]  ¹⁹⁷ tn Most interpret this as a reference to Samson, but this seems premature, since v. 25 suggests he was not yet standing before them. Consequently some prefer to see this statement as displaced and move it to v. 25 (see C. F. Burney, Judges, 387). It seems more likely that the pronoun refers to an image of Dagon.

[16:24]  ¹⁹⁸ tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”

[19:24]  ¹⁹⁹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the visiting Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:24]  ²⁰⁰ tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”

[19:30]  ²⁰¹ tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[19:30]  ²⁰² tn Heb “from the day.”

[19:30]  ²⁰³ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the following additional words: “And he instructed the men whom he sent out, ‘Thus you will say to every male Israelite: “There has never been anything like this from the day the Israelites left Egypt till the present day.”’”