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 2:3

2:3 At that time I also warned you, ‘If you disobey, I will not drive out the Canaanites before you. They will ensnare you and their gods will lure you away.’”

Judges 2:12

2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped 10  them and made the Lord angry.

Judges 2:22

2:22 Joshua left those nations 11  to test 12  Israel. I wanted to see 13  whether or not the people 14  would carefully walk in the path 15  marked out by 16  the Lord, as their ancestors 17  were careful to do.”

Judges 4:5

4:5 She would sit 18  under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel 19  in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled. 20 

Judges 6:9

6:9 I rescued you from Egypt’s power 21  and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their land to you.

Judges 7:12

7:12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. 22  Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.

Judges 7:19

7:19 Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp 23  at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying. 24 

Judges 8:10

8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed. 25 

Judges 12:2

12:2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. 26  I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. 27 

Judges 14:19

14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes 28  and gave them 29  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. 30 

Judges 16:23-24

Samson’s Death and Burial

16:23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.” 16:24 When the people saw him, 31  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!” 32 

Judges 18:9

18:9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them, 33  for 34  we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, 35  but don’t hesitate 36  to invade and conquer 37  the land.

Judges 20:2

20:2 The leaders 38  of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered 39  four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

Judges 20:13

20:13 Now, hand over the good-for-nothings 40  in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness.” 41  But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.

Judges 20:34

20:34 Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. 42  But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. 43 

Judges 20:48

20:48 The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns 44  and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, 45  the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path. 46 


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 Heb “And I also said.” The use of the perfect tense here suggests that the messenger is recalling an earlier statement (see Josh 23:12-13). However, some translate, “And I also say,” understanding the following words as an announcement of judgment upon those gathered at Bokim.

tn The words “If you disobey” are supplied in the translation for clarity. See Josh 23:12-13.

tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Canaanites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn The meaning of the Hebrew word צִדִּים (tsiddim) is uncertain in this context. It may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning “snare.” If so, a more literal translation would be “they will become snares to you.” Normally the term in question means “sides,” but this makes no sense here. On the basis of Num 33:55 some suggest the word for “thorns” has been accidentally omitted. If this word is added, the text would read, “they will become [thorns] in your sides” (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

tn Heb “their gods will become a snare to you.”

tn Or “fathers.”

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

11 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.)

12 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.

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

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

15 tn Or “way [of life].”

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

17 tn Or “fathers.”

18 tn That is, “consider legal disputes.”

19 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

20 tn Heb “for judgment.”

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

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

23 tn Heb “Gideon went, along with the hundred men who were with him, to the edge of the camp.”

24 tn Heb “that were in their hands.”

25 tn Heb “About fifteen thousand [in number] were all the ones remaining from the army of the sons of the east. The fallen ones were a hundred and twenty thousand [in number], men drawing the sword.”

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

27 tn Heb “hand.”

28 tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”

29 tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”

30 tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”

31 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.

32 tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”

33 tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”

34 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”

35 tn Heb “But you are inactive.”

36 tn Or “be lazy.”

37 tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”

38 tn Heb “the cornerstones”; or “the supports.” The word is used of leaders in only three other texts – 1 Sam 14:38; Isa 19:13; Zech 10:4.

39 tn The words “which numbered” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

40 tn Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”

41 tn Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”

42 tn Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”

43 tn Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”

44 tn Heb “to the sons of Benjamin.”

45 tc The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים (meir mÿtim, “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם (meir mÿtom, “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).

46 tn Heb “Also all the cities that were found they set on fire.”