Judges 1:14

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?”

Judges 4:18-19

4:18 Jael came out to welcome Sisera. She said to him, “Stop and rest, ³  my lord. Stop and rest with me. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera ⁴  stopped to rest in her tent, and she put a blanket over him. 4:19 He said to her, “Give me a little water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” She opened a goatskin container of milk and gave him some milk to drink. Then she covered him up again.

Judges 11:39

11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. ⁵  Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. ⁶ 

Judges 16:19

16:19 She made him go to sleep on her lap ⁷  and then called a man in to shave off ⁸  the seven braids of his hair. ⁹  She made him vulnerable ¹⁰  and his strength left him.

Judges 17:4

17:4 When he gave the silver back to his mother, she ¹¹  took two hundred pieces of silver ¹²  to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. ¹³ 

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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 Heb “Turn aside” (also a second time later in this verse).

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302-3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.

⁶ tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”

⁷ tn Heb “on her knees.” The expression is probably euphemistic for sexual intercourse. See HALOT 160-61 s.v. בֶּרֶךְ.

⁸ tn Heb “she called for a man and she shaved off.” The point seems to be that Delilah acted through the instrumentality of the man. See J. A. Soggin, Judges (OTL), 254.

⁹ tn Heb “head.” By metonymy the hair of his head is meant.

¹⁰ tn Heb “She began to humiliate him.” Rather than referring to some specific insulting action on Delilah’s part after Samson’s hair was shaved off, this statement probably means that she, through the devious actions just described, began the process of Samson’s humiliation which culminates in the following verses.

¹¹ tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.

¹² tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”