Judges 1:17

1:17 The men of Judah went with their brothers the men of Simeon ¹  and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They wiped out Zephath. ²  So people now call the city Hormah. ³ 

Judges 3:2

3:2 He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war. ⁴ 

Judges 6:24

6:24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” ⁵  To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 6:29

6:29 They said to one another, ⁶  “Who did this?” ⁷  They investigated the matter thoroughly ⁸  and concluded ⁹  that Gideon son of Joash had done it.

Judges 8:27

8:27 Gideon used all this to make ¹⁰  an ephod, ¹¹  which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites ¹²  prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it ¹³  there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Judges 11:23

11:23 Since ¹⁴  the Lord God of Israel has driven out ¹⁵  the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? ¹⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “Judah went with Simeon, his brother.”

² tn Heb “it”; the referent (the city of Zephath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn The name Hormah (חָרְמָה, khormah) sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “wipe out” (חָרַם, kharam).

⁴ tn The Hebrew syntax of v. 2 is difficult. The Hebrew text reads literally, “only in order that the generations of the Israelites might know, to teach them war – only those who formerly did not know them.”

sn The stated purpose for leaving the nations (to teach the subsequent generations…how to conduct holy war) seems to contradict 2:22 and 3:4, which indicate the nations were left to test Israel’s loyalty to the Lord. However, the two stated purposes can be harmonized. The willingness of later generations to learn and engage in holy war would measure their allegiance to the Lord (see B. G. Webb, Judges [JSOTSup], 114-15).

⁵ tn Heb “The Lord is peace.” Gideon’s name for the altar plays on the Lord’s reassuring words to him, “Peace to you.”

⁶ tn Heb “each one to his neighbor.”

⁷ tn Heb “this thing.”

⁸ tn Heb “they inquired and searched.” The synonyms are joined to emphasize the care with which they conducted their inquiry.

⁹ tn Heb “and said.” Perhaps the plural subject is indefinite. If so, it could be translated, “they were told.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “made it into.”

¹¹ sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.

¹² tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).

¹³ tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Heb “Now.”

¹⁵ tn Or “dispossessed.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “will you dispossess him [i.e., Israel; or possibly “it,” i.e., the territory]?” There is no interrogative marker in the Hebrew text.