Hakim-hakim 3:15

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ¹  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ²  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ³ 

Hakim-hakim 4:9

4:9 She said, “I will indeed go with you. But you will not gain fame ⁴  on the expedition you are undertaking, ⁵  for the Lord will turn Sisera over to a woman.” ⁶  Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Hakim-hakim 8:2

8:2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes ⁷  are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! ⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 11:36

11:36 She said to him, “My father, since ⁹  you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. ¹⁰  After all, the Lord vindicated you before ¹¹  your enemies, the Ammonites.”

Hakim-hakim 14:17

14:17 She cried on his shoulder ¹²  until the party was almost over. ¹³  Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. ¹⁴  Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle. ¹⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 15:1

Samson Versus the Philistines

15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, ¹⁶  Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. ¹⁷  He said to her father, ¹⁸  “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” ¹⁹  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 16:9

16:9 They hid ²⁰  in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, ²¹  Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. ²²  The secret of his strength was not discovered. ²³ 

Hakim-hakim 21:16

21:16 The leaders ²⁴  of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? ²⁵  After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out.

[3:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:15]  ² tn The phrase, which refers to Ehud, literally reads “bound/restricted in the right hand,” apparently a Hebrew idiom for a left-handed person. See Judg 20:16, where 700 Benjaminites are described in this way. Perhaps the Benjaminites purposely trained several of their young men to be left-handed warriors by restricting the use of the right hand from an early age so the left hand would become dominant. Left-handed men would have a distinct military advantage, especially when attacking city gates. See B. Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BRev 4 (1988): 35.

[3:15]  ³ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

[4:9]  ⁴ tn Or “honor.”

[4:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “on [account of (?)] the way which you are walking.” Another option is to translate, “due to the way you are going about this.” In this case direct reference is made to Barak’s hesitancy as the reason for his loss of glory.

[4:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “for into the hands of a woman the Lord will sell Sisera.”

[8:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “gleanings.”

[8:2]  ⁸ sn Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest. Gideon employs an agricultural metaphor. He argues that Ephraim’s mopping up operations, though seemingly like the inferior grapes which are missed initially by the harvesters or left for the poor, are actually more noteworthy than the military efforts of Gideon’s family.

[11:36]  ⁹ tn The conjunction “since” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:36]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to [what] went out from your mouth.”

[11:36]  ¹¹ tn Or “has given you vengeance against.”

[14:17]  ¹² tn Heb “on him.”

[14:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.

[14:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “because she forced him.”

[14:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”

[15:1]  ¹⁶ sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.

[15:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”

[15:1]  ¹⁸ tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).

[15:1]  ¹⁹ 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”).

[16:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting for her.” The grammatically singular form וְהָאֹרֵב (vÿha’orev) is collective here, referring to the rulers as a group (so also in v. 16).

[16:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:9]  ²² tn Heb “when it smells fire.”

[16:9]  ²³ tn Heb “His strength was not known.”

[21:16]  ²⁴ tn Or “elders.”

[21:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”