Hakim-hakim 8:24

8:24 Gideon continued, ¹  “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” ²  (The Midianites ³  had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

Hakim-hakim 9:36

9:36 Gaal saw the men ⁴  and said to Zebul, “Look, men are coming down from the tops of the hills.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows on the hills – it just looks like men.” ⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 12:2

12:2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. ⁶  I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. ⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 15:13

15:13 They said to him, “We promise! ⁸  We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

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, ⁹  Samson!” ¹⁰  He woke up ¹¹  and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.

[8:24]  ¹ tn Heb “said to them.”

[8:24]  ² tn Heb “Give to me, each one, an earring from his plunder.”

[8:24]  ³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Midianites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “the people” (also in vv. 38, 43, 48). These were warriors, so “men” has been used in the translation, since in ancient Israelite culture soldiers would have been exclusively males.

[9:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “the shadow on the hills you are seeing, like men.”

[12:2]  ⁶ tn Heb A man of great strife I was and my people and the Ammonites.”

[12:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[15:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “No,” meaning that they will not harm him.

[16:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:14]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.