Hakim-hakim 1:10

1:10 The men of Judah attacked the Canaanites living in Hebron. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba.) They killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Hakim-hakim 1:35

1:35 The Amorites managed ¹  to remain in Har Heres, ²  Aijalon, and Shaalbim. Whenever the tribe of Joseph was strong militarily, ³  the Amorites were forced to do hard labor.

Hakim-hakim 2:11

A Monotonous Cycle

2:11 The Israelites did evil before ⁴  the Lord by worshiping ⁵  the Baals.

Hakim-hakim 2:15

2:15 Whenever they went out to fight, ⁶  the Lord did them harm, ⁷  just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. ⁸  They suffered greatly. ⁹ 

Hakim-hakim 3:3-4

3:3 These were the nations: ¹⁰  the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo-Hamath. ¹¹  3:4 They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses. ¹² 

Hakim-hakim 3:20

3:20 When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated ¹³  upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God ¹⁴  for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat, ¹⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 3:22

3:22 The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud ¹⁶  did not pull the sword out of his belly. ¹⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 5:15

5:15 Issachar’s leaders were with Deborah,

the men of Issachar ¹⁸  supported ¹⁹  Barak;

into the valley they were sent under Barak’s command. ²⁰ 

Among the clans of Reuben there was intense ²¹  heart searching. ²² 

Hakim-hakim 6:3

6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, ²³  the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack them. ²⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 6:5

6:5 When they invaded ²⁵  with their cattle and tents, they were as thick ²⁶  as locusts. Neither they nor their camels could be counted. ²⁷  They came to devour ²⁸  the land.

Hakim-hakim 6:35

6:35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh and summoned them to follow him as well. ²⁹  He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him.

Hakim-hakim 8:3

8:3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” ³⁰  When he said this, they calmed down. ³¹ 

Hakim-hakim 8:5-6

8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give ³²  some loaves of bread to the men ³³  who are following me, ³⁴  because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 8:6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give ³⁵  bread to your army?” ³⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 9:31

9:31 He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ³⁷  reporting, “Beware! ³⁸  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ³⁹  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ⁴⁰ 

Hakim-hakim 10:15

10:15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, ⁴¹  but deliver us today!” ⁴² 

Hakim-hakim 11:1

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. ⁴³ 

Hakim-hakim 11:25

11:25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them? ⁴⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 11:34

11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out ⁴⁵  to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. ⁴⁶  She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

Hakim-hakim 13:3

13:3 The Lord’s angelic ⁴⁷  messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You ⁴⁸  are infertile and childless, ⁴⁹  but you will conceive and have a son.

Hakim-hakim 15:2

15:2 Her father said, “I really thought ⁵⁰  you absolutely despised ⁵¹  her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” ⁵² 

Hakim-hakim 15:5

15:5 He lit the torches ⁵³  and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

Hakim-hakim 16:14

16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ⁵⁴  Samson!” ⁵⁵  He woke up ⁵⁶  and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.

Hakim-hakim 16:27

16:27 Now the temple ⁵⁷  was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain.

Hakim-hakim 19:12

19:12 But his master said to him, “We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. ⁵⁸  We will travel on to Gibeah.”

Hakim-hakim 19:19

19:19 We have enough straw and grain for our donkeys, and there is enough food and wine for me, your female servant, ⁵⁹  and the young man who is with your servants. ⁶⁰  We lack nothing.”

Hakim-hakim 20:1

Civil War Breaks Out

20:1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba ⁶¹  and from the land of Gilead ⁶²  left their homes ⁶³  and assembled together ⁶⁴  before the Lord at Mizpah.

Hakim-hakim 20:34

20:34 Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. ⁶⁵  But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. ⁶⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 20:39

20:39 the Israelites counterattacked. ⁶⁷  Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; ⁶⁸  they struck down ⁶⁹  about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”

Hakim-hakim 21:12

21:12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins – they had never had sexual relations with a male. ⁷⁰  They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

[1:35]  ¹ tn Or “were determined.”

[1:35]  ² tn Or “Mount Heres”; the term הַר (har) means “mount” or “mountain” in Hebrew.

[1:35]  ³ tn Heb “Whenever the hand of the tribe of Joseph was heavy.”

[2:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[2:11]  ⁵ tn Or “serving”; or “following.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tn The expression “to fight” is interpretive.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord’s hand was against them for harm.”

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “just as he had said and just as he had sworn to them.”

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Or “they experienced great distress.”

[3:3]  ¹⁰ tn The words “These were the nations,” though not present in the Hebrew text, are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “the entrance to Hamath.”

[3:4]  ¹² tn Heb “to know if they would hear the commands of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.”

[3:20]  ¹³ tn Or “cool.” This probably refers to a room with latticed windows which allowed the breeze to pass through. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 144.

[3:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”

[3:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “throne.”

[3:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ehud) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:22]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text has “and he went out to the [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew word פַּרְשְׁדֹנָה (parshÿdonah) which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. The noun has the article prefixed and directive suffix. The word may be a technical architectural term, indicating the area into which Ehud moved as he left the king and began his escape. In this case Ehud is the subject of the verb “went out.” The present translation omits the clause, understanding it as an ancient variant of the first clause in v. 23. Some take the noun as “back,” understand “sword” (from the preceding clause) as the subject, and translate “the sword came out his [i.e., Eglon’s] back.” But this rendering is unlikely since the Hebrew word for “sword” (חֶרֶב, kherev) is feminine and the verb form translated “came out” (וַיֵּצֵא, vayyetse’) is masculine. (One expects agreement in gender when the subject is supplied from the preceding clause. See Ezek 33:4, 6.) See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 146-48, for discussion of the options.

[5:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Issachar.” The words “the men of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or “was true to.”

[5:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “at his feet.”

[5:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “great was.”

[5:15]  ²² tc The great majority of Hebrew mss have “resolves of heart,” but a few mss read “searchings of heart,” which is preferable in light of v. 16.

[6:3]  ²³ tn Heb “Whenever Israel sowed seed.”

[6:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east would go up, they would go up against him.” The translation assumes that וְעָלוּ (vÿ’alu) is dittographic (note the following עָלָיו, ’alayv).

[6:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “came up.”

[6:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “numerous.”

[6:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “To them and to their camels there was no number.”

[6:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “destroy.” The translation “devour” carries through the imagery of a locust plague earlier in this verse.

[6:35]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he also was summoned after him.”

[8:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”

[8:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”

[8:5]  ³² tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

[8:5]  ³³ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.

[8:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “who are at my feet.”

[8:6]  ³⁵ tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

[8:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your army bread?” Perhaps the reference to the kings’ “palms” should be taken literally. The officials of Succoth may be alluding to the practice of mutilating prisoners or enemy corpses (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 155).

[8:6]  sn The officials of Succoth are hesitant to give (or sell) food to Gideon’s forces because they are not sure of the outcome of the battle. Perhaps they had made an alliance with the Midianites which demanded their loyalty.

[9:31]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Look!”

[9:31]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ 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).

[10:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “according to all whatever is good in your eyes.”

[10:15]  ⁴² sn You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today. The request seems contradictory, but it can be explained in one of two ways. They may be asking for relief from their enemies and direct discipline from God’s hand. Or they may mean, “In the future you can do whatever you like to us, but give us relief from what we’re suffering right now.”

[11:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Now he was the son of a woman, a prostitute, and Gilead fathered Jephthah.”

[11:25]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew grammatical constructions of all three rhetorical questions indicate emphasis, which “really” and “dare to” are intended to express in the translation.

[11:25]  sn Jephthah argues that the Ammonite king should follow the example of Balak, who, once thwarted in his attempt to bring a curse on Israel, refused to attack Israel and returned home (Num 22-24).

[11:34]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”

[11:34]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”

[13:3]  ⁴⁷ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive (also in vv. 6, 9).

[13:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Look, you.”

[13:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and have not given birth.”

[15:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “saying, I said.” The first person form of אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) sometimes indicates self-reflection. The girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[15:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[15:2]  ⁵² tn Heb “Is her younger sister not better than her? Let her [i.e., the younger sister] be yours instead of her [i.e., Samson’s ‘bride’]).”

[15:5]  ⁵³ tn Heb “He set fire to the torches.”

[16:14]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:14]  ⁵⁵ tc The MT of vv. 13b-14a reads simply, “He said to her, ‘If you weave the seven braids of my head with the web.’ And she fastened with the pin and said to him.” The additional words in the translation, “and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.’ 16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom,” which without doubt represent the original text, are supplied from the ancient Greek version. (In both vv. 13b and 14a the Greek version has “to the wall” after “with the pin,” but this is an interpretive addition that reflects a misunderstanding of ancient weaving equipment. See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 353-54.) The Hebrew textual tradition was accidentally shortened during the copying process. A scribe’s eye jumped from the first instance of “with the web” to the second, causing him to leave out inadvertently the intervening words.

[16:14]  ⁵⁶ tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:27]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[19:12]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “who are not from the sons of Israel.”

[19:19]  ⁵⁹ tn By calling his concubine the old man’s “female servant,” the Levite emphasizes their dependence on him for shelter.

[19:19]  ⁶⁰ tc Some Hebrew mss and ancient witnesses read the singular, “your servant,” which would refer to the Levite. If one retains the plural, then both the Levite and his wife are in view. In either case the pronominal suffix emphasizes their dependence on the old man for shelter.

[20:1]  ⁶¹ sn Dan was located in the far north of the country, while Beer Sheba was located in the far south. This encompassed all the territory of the land of Canaan occupied by the Israelites.

[20:1]  ⁶² sn The land of Gilead was on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

[20:1]  ⁶³ tn Heb “went out.”

[20:1]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”

[20:34]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”

[20:34]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”

[20:39]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “turned in the battle.”

[20:39]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “And Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel.”

[20:39]  ⁶⁹ tn The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:12]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “who had not known a man with respect to the bed of a male.”