Judges 1:14-15

1:14 One time Acsah ¹  came and charmed her father ²  so she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?” 1:15 She answered, “Please give me a special present. ³  Since you have given me land in the Negev, now give me springs of water.” So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs. ⁴ 

Judges 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.’ ⁵  But you have disobeyed me. ⁶  Why would you do such a thing? ⁷ 

Judges 2:12

2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ⁸  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ⁹  them and made the Lord angry.

Judges 5:31

5:31 May all your enemies perish like this, O Lord!

But may those who love you shine

like the rising sun at its brightest!” ¹⁰ 

And the land had rest for forty years.

Judges 6:4

6:4 They invaded the land ¹¹  and devoured ¹²  its crops ¹³  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ¹⁴  and they took away ¹⁵  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Judges 6:9-10

6:9 I rescued you from Egypt’s power ¹⁶  and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their land to you. 6:10 I said to you, “I am the Lord your God! Do not worship ¹⁷  the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living!” But you have disobeyed me.’” ¹⁸ 

Judges 10:4

10:4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities. To this day these towns are called Havvoth Jair ¹⁹  – they are in the land of Gilead. ²⁰ 

Judges 11:24

11:24 You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us. ²¹ 

Judges 16:24

16:24 When the people saw him, ²²  they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!” ²³ 

Judges 19:30

19:30 Everyone who saw the sight ²⁴  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ²⁵  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ²⁶  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

Judges 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. ²⁷  They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

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¹ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “him.” The pronoun could refer to Othniel, in which case one would translate, “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Acsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 15. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18 // Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. The translation takes Caleb to be the referent, specified as “her father.”

³ tn Elsewhere the Hebrew word בְרָכָה (vÿrakhah) is often translated “blessing,” but here it refers to a gift (as in Gen 33:11; 1 Sam 25:27; 30:26; and 2 Kgs 5:15).

⁴ tn Some translations regard the expressions “springs of water” (גֻּלֹּת מָיִם, gullot mayim) and “springs” (גֻּלֹּת) as place names here (cf. NRSV).

⁵ tn Heb “their altars.”

⁶ tn Heb “you have not listened to my voice.”

⁷ tn Heb “What is this you have done?”

⁸ tn Or “fathers.”

⁹ tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).

¹⁰ tn Heb “But may those who love him be like the going forth of the sun in its strength.”

¹¹ tn Heb “They encamped against them.”

¹² tn Heb “destroyed.”

¹³ tn Heb “the crops of the land.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”

¹⁵ tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁶ tn Heb “hand” (also a second time later in this verse).

¹⁷ tn Heb “Do not fear.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “you have not listened to my voice.”

¹⁹ sn The name Habboth Jair means “tent villages of Jair” in Hebrew.

²⁰ tn Heb “they call them Havvoth Jair to this day – which are in the land of Gilead.”

²¹ tn Heb “Is it not so that what Chemosh your god causes you to possess, you possess, and all whom the Lord our God dispossesses before us we will possess?” Jephthah speaks of Chemosh as if he is on a par with the Lord God of Israel. This does not necessarily mean that Jephthah is polytheistic or that he recognizes the Lord as only a local deity. He may simply be assuming the Ammonite king’s perspective for the sake of argument. Other texts, as well as the extrabiblical Mesha inscription, associate Chemosh with Moab, while Milcom is identified as the god of the Ammonites. Why then does Jephthah refer to Chemosh as the Ammonite god? Ammon had likely conquered Moab and the Ammonite king probably regarded himself as heir of all territory formerly held by Moab. Originally Moab had owned the disputed territory (cf. Num 21:26-29), meaning that Chemosh was regarded as the god of the region (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 203-4). Jephthah argues that Chemosh had long ago relinquished claim to the area (by allowing Sihon to conquer it), while the Lord had long ago established jurisdiction over it (by taking it from Sihon and giving it to Israel). Both sides should abide by the decisions of the gods which had stood firm for three hundred years.

²² tn Most interpret this as a reference to Samson, but this seems premature, since v. 25 suggests he was not yet standing before them. Consequently some prefer to see this statement as displaced and move it to v. 25 (see C. F. Burney, Judges, 387). It seems more likely that the pronoun refers to an image of Dagon.

²³ tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”

²⁴ tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

²⁵ tn Heb “from the day.”

²⁶ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the following additional words: “And he instructed the men whom he sent out, ‘Thus you will say to every male Israelite: “There has never been anything like this from the day the Israelites left Egypt till the present day.”’”

²⁷ tn Heb “who had not known a man with respect to the bed of a male.”