Hakim-hakim 8:2

8:2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes ¹  are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! ² 

Hakim-hakim 9:2

9:2 “Tell ³  all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want ⁴  to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’” ⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 12:6

12:6 then they said to him, “Say ‘Shibboleth!’” ⁶  If he said, “Sibboleth” (and could not pronounce the word ⁷  correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead.

Hakim-hakim 14:16

14:16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder ⁸  and said, “You must ⁹  hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men ¹⁰  a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” ¹¹ 

Hakim-hakim 14:18

14:18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

He said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer, ¹² 

you would not have solved my riddle!”

Hakim-hakim 21:21

21:21 and keep your eyes open. ¹³  When you see ¹⁴  the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, ¹⁵  jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin.

[8:2]  ¹ tn Heb “gleanings.”

[8:2]  ² sn Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest. Gideon employs an agricultural metaphor. He argues that Ephraim’s mopping up operations, though seemingly like the inferior grapes which are missed initially by the harvesters or left for the poor, are actually more noteworthy than the military efforts of Gideon’s family.

[9:2]  ³ tn Heb “Speak into the ears of.”

[9:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “What good is it to you?”

[9:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “your bone and your flesh.”

[12:6]  ⁶ sn The inability of the Ephraimites to pronounce the word shibboleth the way the Gileadites did served as an identifying test. It illustrates that during this period there were differences in pronunciation between the tribes. The Hebrew word shibboleth itself means “stream” or “flood,” and was apparently chosen simply as a test case without regard to its meaning.

[12:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and could not prepare to speak.” The precise meaning of יָכִין (yakhin) is unclear. Some understand it to mean “was not careful [to say it correctly]”; others emend to יָכֹל (yakhol, “was not able [to say it correctly]”) or יָבִין (yavin, “did not understand [that he should say it correctly]”), which is read by a few Hebrew mss.

[14:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “on him.”

[14:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “only”; or “simply.”

[14:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sons of my people.”

[14:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Should I tell you?”

[14:18]  ¹² sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.

[21:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and look.”

[21:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and look, when.”

[21:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the dances.”