Hakim-hakim 1:8

1:8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They put the sword to it and set the city on fire.

Hakim-hakim 1:17

1:17 The men of Judah went with their brothers the men of Simeon ¹  and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They wiped out Zephath. ²  So people now call the city Hormah. ³ 

Hakim-hakim 1:25

1:25 He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely.

Hakim-hakim 4:24

4:24 Israel’s power continued to overwhelm ⁴  King Jabin of Canaan until they did away with ⁵  him. ⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 5:31

5:31 May all your enemies perish like this, O Lord!

But may those who love you shine

like the rising sun at its brightest!” ⁷ 

And the land had rest for forty years.

Hakim-hakim 6:4-5

6:4 They invaded the land ⁸  and devoured ⁹  its crops ¹⁰  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ¹¹  and they took away ¹²  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys. 6:5 When they invaded ¹³  with their cattle and tents, they were as thick ¹⁴  as locusts. Neither they nor their camels could be counted. ¹⁵  They came to devour ¹⁶  the land.

Hakim-hakim 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to him, “Ah, but ¹⁷  I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.” ¹⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹⁹  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ²⁰  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ²¹  will die by morning! ²²  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ²³  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ²⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 20:21

20:21 The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day. ²⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 20:25

20:25 The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. ²⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 20:35

20:35 The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. ²⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 20:42

20:42 They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook ²⁸  them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down. ²⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 21:10-11

21:10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors ³⁰  against Jabesh Gilead. ³¹  They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords ³²  the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. 21:11 Do this: ³³  exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. ³⁴  But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. ³⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 21:16

21:16 The leaders ³⁶  of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? ³⁷  After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out.

Hakim-hakim 21:22

21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, ³⁸  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ³⁹  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ⁴⁰  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ⁴¹  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ⁴² 

[1:17]  ¹ tn Heb “Judah went with Simeon, his brother.”

[1:17]  ² tn Heb “it”; the referent (the city of Zephath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ³ sn The name Hormah (חָרְמָה, khormah) sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “wipe out” (חָרַם, kharam).

[4:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “The hand of the Israelites became more and more severe against.”

[4:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut off.”

[4:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “Jabin king of Canaan.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “But may those who love him be like the going forth of the sun in its strength.”

[6:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “They encamped against them.”

[6:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “destroyed.”

[6:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the crops of the land.”

[6:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”

[6:4]  ¹² tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “came up.”

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “numerous.”

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “To them and to their camels there was no number.”

[6:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “destroy.” The translation “devour” carries through the imagery of a locust plague earlier in this verse.

[6:16]  ¹⁷ tn Or “certainly.”

[6:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “You will strike down Midian as one man.” The idiom “as one man” emphasizes the collective unity of a group (see Judg 20:8, 11). Here it may carry the force, “as if they were just one man.”

[6:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

[6:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

[6:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “fights for him.”

[6:31]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “fight for himself.”

[6:31]  ²⁴ 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).

[20:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “The sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and they struck down in Israel that day twenty-two thousand men to the ground.”

[20:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “And Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah the second day, and they struck down among the sons of Israel eighteen thousand men to the ground, all of these were wielding the sword.”

[20:35]  ²⁷ tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”

[20:42]  ²⁸ tn Heb “clung to”; or “stuck close.”

[20:42]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and those from the cities were striking them down in their midst.”

[21:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

[21:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “there.”

[21:10]  ³² tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”

[21:11]  ³³ tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”

[21:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.”

[21:11]  ³⁵ tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (ve’et-habbÿtulot tÿkhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vÿ’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.

[21:16]  ³⁶ tn Or “elders.”

[21:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”

[21:22]  ³⁸ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

[21:22]  ³⁹ tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

[21:22]  sn Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.

[21:22]  ⁴¹ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

[21:22]  ⁴² tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.