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 6:37

6:37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it ⁷  is dry, then I will be sure ⁸  that you will use me to deliver Israel, ⁹  as you promised.”

Hakim-hakim 13:16

13:16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, ¹⁰  I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) ¹¹ 

Hakim-hakim 14:18

14:18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

He said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer, ¹² 

you would not have solved my riddle!”

Hakim-hakim 16:30

16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard ¹³  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. ¹⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 18:9

18:9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them, ¹⁵  for ¹⁶  we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, ¹⁷  but don’t hesitate ¹⁸  to invade and conquer ¹⁹  the land.

[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).

[6:37]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the ground.”

[6:37]  ⁸ tn Or “know.”

[6:37]  ⁹ tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”

[13:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “If you detain me.”

[13:16]  ¹¹ tn The words “he said this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Manoah should have known from these words that the messenger represented the Lord. In the preceding narrative the narrator has informed the reader that the visitor is the Lord’s messenger, but Manoah and his wife did not perceive this. In vv. 5 and 7 the angel refers to “God” (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim), not the Lord (יְהוַה, yÿhvah). Manoah’s wife calls the visitor “a man sent from God” and “God’s messenger” (v. 6), while Manoah prays to the “Lord” (אֲדוֹנָי, ’adonay) and calls the visitor “a man sent from God” (v. 8).

[14:18]  ¹² sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.

[16:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”

[16:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”

[18:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”

[18:9]  ¹⁶ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”

[18:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “But you are inactive.”

[18:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “be lazy.”

[18:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”