Hakim-hakim 2:2

2:2 but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.’ ¹  But you have disobeyed me. ²  Why would you do such a thing? ³ 

Hakim-hakim 2:15

2:15 Whenever they went out to fight, ⁴  the Lord did them harm, ⁵  just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. ⁶  They suffered greatly. ⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 5:8

5:8 God chose new leaders, ⁸ 

then fighters appeared in the city gates; ⁹ 

but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found, ¹⁰ 

among forty military units ¹¹  in Israel.

Hakim-hakim 6:4

6:4 They invaded the land ¹²  and devoured ¹³  its crops ¹⁴  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ¹⁵  and they took away ¹⁶  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Hakim-hakim 13:19

13:19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. The Lord’s messenger did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. ¹⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 20:6

20:6 I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces ¹⁸  throughout the territory occupied by Israel, ¹⁹  because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity ²⁰  in Israel.

[2:2]  ¹ tn Heb “their altars.”

[2:2]  ² tn Heb “you have not listened to my voice.”

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “What is this you have done?”

[2:15]  ⁴ tn The expression “to fight” is interpretive.

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord’s hand was against them for harm.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “just as he had said and just as he had sworn to them.”

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Or “they experienced great distress.”

[5:8]  ⁸ tn Or “warriors.” The Hebrew text reads literally, “He chose God/gods new.” Some take “Israel” as the subject of the verb, “gods” as object, and “new” as an adjective modifying “gods.” This yields the translation, “(Israel) chose new gods.” In this case idolatry is the cause of the trouble alluded to in the context. The present translation takes “God” as subject of the verb and “new” as substantival, referring to the new leaders raised up by God (see v. 9a). For a survey of opinions and a defense of the present translation, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 239-40.

[5:8]  ⁹ tn The translation of this difficult line is speculative because the second word, לָחֶם (lakhem), appears only here. The line in the Hebrew text literally reads, “Then [?] gates.” Interpretations and emendations of the Hebrew text abound (see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 239-40). The translation assumes a repointing of the form as a Qal participle לֹחֵם (lokhem) from the verbal root לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) and understands a substantival use (“fighter”). “Fighter” is a collective reference to the military leaders or warriors mentioned in the preceding line and in v. 9. (For other occurrences of the Qal of לָחַם, see Pss 35:1; 56:2-3.)

[5:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “A shield, it could not be seen, nor a spear.” The translation assumes that the Hebrew particle אִם (’im) introduces an oath of denial (see GKC 472 §149.e).

[5:8]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally “forty thousand,” but this may be an instance where Hebrew term אֶלֶף (’elef) refers to a military unit. This is the view assumed by the translation (“forty military units”).

[6:4]  ¹² tn Heb “They encamped against them.”

[6:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “destroyed.”

[6:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the crops of the land.”

[6:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”

[6:4]  ¹⁶ tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[13:19]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “Doing an extraordinary deed while Manoah and his wife were watching.” The subject of the participle is missing. The translation assumes that the phrase “the Lord’s messenger” was lost by homoioteleuton. If the text originally read לַיהוָה מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה (layhavah mal’akh yÿhvah), the scribe’s eye could have jumped from the first יְהוָה to the second, accidentally omitting two of the three words. Later the conjunction וּ (shureq) would have been added to the following מַפְלִא (mafli’) for syntactical reasons. Another possibility is that a pronominal subject (הוּא, hu’) has been lost in the MT due to haplography.

[20:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “her”; the referent is more naturally stated in English as “the pieces.”

[20:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel.”

[20:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a wicked and disgraceful [thing].”