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 ¹  is dry, then I will be sure ²  that you will use me to deliver Israel, ³  as you promised.”

Hakim-hakim 7:8

7:8 The men ⁴  who were chosen ⁵  took supplies ⁶  and their trumpets. Gideon ⁷  sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; ⁸  he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites ⁹  were camped down below ¹⁰  in the valley.

Hakim-hakim 7:20

7:20 All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. ¹¹  Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

Hakim-hakim 15:1

Samson Versus the Philistines

15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, ¹²  Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. ¹³  He said to her father, ¹⁴  “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” ¹⁵  But her father would not let him enter.

Hakim-hakim 16:12

16:12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ¹⁶  Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) ¹⁷  But he tore the ropes ¹⁸  from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

Hakim-hakim 19:18

19:18 The Levite ¹⁹  said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem ²⁰  in Judah to the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. That’s where I’m from. I had business in Bethlehem in Judah, but now I’m heading home. ²¹  But no one has invited me into their home.

Hakim-hakim 20:26

20:26 So all the Israelites, the whole army, ²²  went up to ²³  Bethel. ²⁴  They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything ²⁵  that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace ²⁶  to the Lord.

[6:37]  ¹ tn Heb “all the ground.”

[6:37]  ² tn Or “know.”

[6:37]  ³ tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”

[7:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “The people.”

[7:8]  ⁵ tn The words “who were chosen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:8]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has “in their hands.”

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

[7:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “tents.”

[7:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:8]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds “him” (i.e., Gideon).

[7:20]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds, “in order to blow [them].” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:1]  ¹² sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.

[15:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”

[15:1]  ¹⁴ tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).

[15:1]  ¹⁵ 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”).

[16:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting in the bedroom.”

[16:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the ropes) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:18]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[19:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “I went to Bethlehem in Judah, but [to] the house of the LORD I am going.” The Hebrew text has “house of the LORD,” which might refer to the shrine at Shiloh. The LXX reads “to my house.”

[20:26]  ²² tn Heb “and all the people.”

[20:26]  ²³ tn Heb “went up and came [to].”

[20:26]  ²⁴ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[20:26]  ²⁵ tn Traditionally, “fasted.”

[20:26]  ²⁶ tn Or “peace offerings.”