Hakim-hakim 20:44

20:44 Eighteen thousand Benjaminites, all of them capable warriors, fell dead.

Hakim-hakim 20:46

20:46 That day twenty-five thousand ¹  sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. ² 

Hakim-hakim 11:1

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. ³ 

Hakim-hakim 3:29

3:29 That day they killed about ten thousand Moabites ⁴  – all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped.

Hakim-hakim 6:12

6:12 The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!”

Hakim-hakim 5:21

5:21 The Kishon River carried them off;

the river confronted them ⁵  – the Kishon River.

Step on the necks of the strong! ⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 21:10

21:10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors ⁷  against Jabesh Gilead. ⁸  They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords ⁹  the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children.

Hakim-hakim 5:2

5:2 “When the leaders took the lead ¹⁰  in Israel,

When the people answered the call to war –

Praise the Lord!

Hakim-hakim 18:2

18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, ¹¹  capable men ¹²  from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. ¹³ 

Hakim-hakim 4:7

4:7 I will bring Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to you at the Kishon River, along with his chariots and huge army. ¹⁴  I will hand him over to you.”

Hakim-hakim 8:21

8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ¹⁵  “Come on, ¹⁶  you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” ¹⁷  So Gideon killed ¹⁸  Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

[20:46]  ¹ sn The number given here (twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites) is an approximate figure; v. 35 gives the more exact number (25,100). According to v. 15, the Benjaminite army numbered 26,700 (26,000 + 700). The figures in vv. 35 (rounded in vv. 44-46) and 47 add up to 25,700. What happened to the other 1,000 men? The most reasonable explanation is that they were killed during the first two days of fighting. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 429) and C. F. Burney (Judges, 475) reject this proposal, arguing that the narrator is too precise and concerned about details to omit such a fact. However, the account of the first two days’ fighting emphasizes Israel’s humiliating defeat. To speak of Benjaminite casualties would diminish the literary effect. In vv. 35, 44-47 the narrator’s emphasis is the devastating defeat that Benjamin experienced on this final day of battle. To mention the earlier days’ casualties at this point is irrelevant to his literary purpose. He allows readers who happen to be concerned with such details to draw conclusions for themselves.

[20:46]  ² tn Heb “So all the ones who fell from Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men, wielding the sword, in that day, all of these men of strength.

[11:1]  ³ tn Heb “Now he was the son of a woman, a prostitute, and Gilead fathered Jephthah.”

[3:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “They struck Moab that day – about ten thousand men.”

[5:21]  ⁵ tn Possibly “the ancient river,” but it seems preferable in light of the parallel line (which has a verb) to emend the word (attested only here) to a verb (קָדַם, qadam) with pronominal object suffix.

[5:21]  ⁶ tn This line is traditionally taken as the poet-warrior’s self-exhortation, “March on, my soul, in strength!” The present translation (a) takes the verb (a second feminine singular form) as addressed to Deborah (cf. v. 12), (b) understands נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) in its well-attested sense of “throat; neck” (cf. Jonah 2:6), (c) takes the final yod (י) on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy) as an archaic construct indicator (rather than a suffix), and (d) interprets עֹז (’oz, “strength”) as an attributive genitive (literally, “necks of strength,” i.e., “strong necks”). For fuller discussion and various proposals, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 270-71.

[21:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

[21:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “there.”

[21:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”

[5:2]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression בִּפְרֹעַ פְּרָעוֹת (bifroa’ pÿra’ot) is uncertain. Numerous proposals are offered by commentators. (For a survey of opinions, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 223-27.) The next line refers to the people who responded to Barak’s summons to war, so a reference to the leaders who issued the summons would provide a natural poetic parallel. In v. 9 the leaders (חוֹקְקֵי, khoqÿqey) of the people and these same volunteers stand in poetic parallelism, so it is reasonable to assume that the difficult Hebrew term פְּרַעוֹת (pÿra’ot, v. 2a) is synonymous with חוֹקְקֵי (khoqÿqey) of v. 9 (see Lindars, 227).

[18:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

[18:2]  ¹² tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

[18:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”

[4:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “horde”; “multitude.”

[8:21]  ¹⁵ tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:21]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Arise.”

[8:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”

[8:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “arose and killed.”