Hakim-hakim 3:17

3:17 He brought the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.)

Hakim-hakim 6:8

6:8 he ¹  sent a prophet ²  to the Israelites. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt ³  and took you out of that place of slavery. ⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 6:14

6:14 Then the Lord himself ⁵  turned to him and said, “You have the strength. ⁶  Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! ⁷  Have I not sent you?”

Hakim-hakim 7:23

7:23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites. ⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 9:31

9:31 He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ⁹  reporting, “Beware! ¹⁰  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ¹¹  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ¹² 

Hakim-hakim 16:21

16:21 The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison.

[6:8]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:8]  ² tn Heb “a man, a prophet.” Hebrew idiom sometimes puts a generic term before a more specific designation.

[6:8]  ³ tc Some ancient witnesses read “from the land of Egypt.” מֵאֶרֶץ (me’erets, “from the land [of]”) could have been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton (note the following מִמִּצְרַיִם [mimmitsrayim, “from Egypt”]).

[6:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”

[6:14]  ⁵ sn Some interpreters equate the Lord and the messenger in this story, but they are more likely distinct. In vv. 22-23 the Lord and Gideon continue to carry on a conversation after the messenger has vanished (v. 21).

[6:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “Go in this strength of yours.”

[6:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

[7:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “Midian.”

[9:31]  ⁹ tn The form בְּתָרְמָה (bÿtarmah) in the Hebrew text, which occurs only here, has traditionally been understood to mean “secretly” or “with deception.” If this is correct, it is derived from II רָמָה (ramah, “to deceive”). Some interpreters object, pointing out that this would imply Zebul was trying to deceive Abimelech, which is clearly not the case in this context. But this objection is unwarranted. If retained, the phrase would refer instead to deceptive measures used by Zebul to avoid the suspicion of Gaal when he dispatched the messengers from Shechem. The present translation assumes an emendation to “in Arumah” (בָּארוּמָה, ba’rumah), a site mentioned in v. 41 as the headquarters of Abimelech. Confusion of alef and tav in archaic Hebrew script, while uncommon, is certainly not unimaginable.

[9:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Look!”

[9:31]  ¹¹ tn The participle, as used here, suggests Gaal and his brothers are in the process of arriving, but the preceding verses imply they have already settled in. Perhaps Zebul uses understatement to avoid the appearance of negligence on his part. After all, if he made the situation sound too bad, Abimelech, when he was informed, might ask why he had allowed this rebellion to reach such a stage.

[9:31]  ¹² tn The words “to rebel” are interpretive. The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb צוּר (tsur) is unclear here. It is best to take it in the sense of “to instigate; to incite; to provoke” (see Deut 2:9, 19 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 178).