Judges 1:17

1:17 The men of Judah went with their brothers the men of Simeon and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They wiped out Zephath. So people now call the city Hormah.

Judges 1:19

1:19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered the hill country, but they could not conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.

Judges 1:27

1:27 The men of Manasseh did not conquer Beth Shan, Taanach, or their surrounding towns. Nor did they conquer the people living in Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo or their surrounding towns. The Canaanites managed to remain in those areas. 10 

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.’ 11  But you have disobeyed me. 12  Why would you do such a thing? 13 

Judges 2:7

2:7 The people worshiped 14  the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men 15  who outlived him remained alive. These men had witnessed 16  all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. 17 

Judges 2:22

2:22 Joshua left those nations 18  to test 19  Israel. I wanted to see 20  whether or not the people 21  would carefully walk in the path 22  marked out by 23  the Lord, as their ancestors 24  were careful to do.”

Judges 7:12

7:12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. 25  Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.

Judges 9:7

Jotham’s Parable

9:7 When Jotham heard the news, 26  he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below, 27  “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!

Judges 9:43-45

9:43 he took his men 28  and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, 29  he attacked and struck them down. 30  9:44 Abimelech and his units 31  attacked and blocked 32  the entrance to the city’s gate. Two units then attacked all the people in the field and struck them down. 9:45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled 33  the city and spread salt over it. 34 

Judges 9:49

9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches 35  against the stronghold and set fire to it. 36  All the people 37  of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

Judges 12:2

12:2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. 38  I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. 39 

Judges 16:24

16:24 When the people saw him, 40  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!” 41 

Judges 18:27

18:27 Now the Danites 42  took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. 43 


tn Heb “Judah went with Simeon, his brother.”

tn Heb “it”; the referent (the city of Zephath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

sn The name Hormah (חָרְמָה, khormah) sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “wipe out” (חָרַם, kharam).

tn Or “seized possession of”; or “occupied.”

tc Several textual witnesses support the inclusion of this verb.

tn Regarding the translation “chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,” see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 255, and the article by R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15-23.

map For location see Map1-D4; Map2-C1; Map4-C2; Map5-F2; Map7-B1.

tn Heb “The men of Manasseh did not conquer Beth Shan and its surrounding towns, Taanach and its surrounding towns, the people living in Dor and its surrounding towns, the people living in Ibleam and its surrounding towns, or the people living in Megiddo and its surrounding towns.”

tn Or “were determined.”

10 tn Heb “in this land.”

11 tn Heb “their altars.”

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

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

14 tn Or “served”; or “followed.”

15 tn Or perhaps “elders,” which could be interpreted to mean “leaders.”

16 tn Heb “all the days of Joshua and all the days of the old men who outlived him, who had seen.”

17 tn Heb “the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.”

18 tn The words “Joshua left those nations” are interpretive. The Hebrew text of v. 22 simply begins with “to test.” Some subordinate this phrase to “I will no longer remove” (v. 21). In this case the Lord announces that he has now decided to leave these nations as a test for Israel. Another possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “He said” (v. 20; see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 111). In this case the statement recorded in vv. 20b-21 is the test in that it forces Israel to respond either positively (through repentance) or negatively to the Lord’s declaration. A third possibility (the one reflected in the present translation) is to subordinate “to test” to “left unconquered” (v. 21). In this case the Lord recalls that Joshua left these nations as a test. Israel has failed the test (v. 20), so the Lord announces that the punishment threatened earlier (Josh 23:12-13; see also Judg 2:3) will now be implemented. As B. G. Webb (Judges [JSOTSup], 115) observes, “The nations which were originally left as a test are now left as a punishment.” This view best harmonizes v. 23, which explains that the Lord did not give all the nations to Joshua, with v. 22. (For a grammatical parallel, where the infinitive construct of נָסָה [nasah] is subordinated to the perfect of עָזַב [’azav], see 2 Chr 32:31.)

19 tn The Hebrew text includes the phrase “by them,” but this is somewhat redundant in English and has been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

20 tn The words “I [i.e., the Lord] wanted to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

21 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

22 tn Or “way [of life].”

23 tn “The words “marked out by” are interpretive.

24 tn Or “fathers.”

25 tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east were falling in the valley like locusts in great number.”

26 tn Heb “And they reported to Jotham.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

27 tn Heb “He lifted his voice and called and said to them.”

28 tn Heb “his people.”

29 tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”

30 tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”

31 tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”

32 tn Heb “stood [at].”

33 tn Or “destroyed.”

34 tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”

sn The spreading of salt over the city was probably a symbolic act designed to place the site under a curse, deprive it of fertility, and prevent any future habitation. The practice is referred to outside the Bible as well. For example, one of the curses in the Aramaic Sefire treaty states concerning Arpad: “May Hadad sow in them salt and weeds, and may it not be mentioned again!” See J. A. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire (BibOr), 15, 53. Deut 29:23, Jer 17:6, and Zeph 2:9 associate salt flats or salty regions with infertility and divine judgment.

35 tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

36 tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”

37 tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.

38 tn Heb A man of great strife I was and my people and the Ammonites.”

39 tn Heb “hand.”

40 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.

41 tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”

42 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

43 tn The Hebrew adds “with fire.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.