Hakim-hakim 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ²  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ³  will die by morning! ⁴  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ⁵  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 16:30

16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard ⁷  and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. ⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 19:30

19:30 Everyone who saw the sight ⁹  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ¹⁰  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ¹¹  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

[6:31]  ¹ tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

[6:31]  ² tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

[6:31]  ³ tn Heb “fights for him.”

[6:31]  ⁴ sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.

[6:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “fight for himself.”

[6:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).

[16:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”

[16:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”

[19:30]  ⁹ tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[19:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the day.”

[19:30]  ¹¹ 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.”’”