Judges 1:19

1:19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered¹ the hill country, but they could not² conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.³

Judges 3:12

Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight.⁴ The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel⁵ because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

Judges 4:3

4:3 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, because Sisera⁶ had nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,⁷ and he cruelly⁸ oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

Judges 4:19

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 6:32

6:32 That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal,⁹ because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

Judges 8:5

8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give¹⁰ some loaves of bread to the men¹¹ who are following me,¹² because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

Judges 8:24

8:24 Gideon continued,¹³ “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.”¹⁴ (The Midianites¹⁵ had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

Judges 9:5

9:5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers,¹⁶ the seventy legitimate¹⁷ sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped,¹⁸ because he hid.

Judges 12:4

12:4 Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and they fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because the Ephraimites insulted them, saying,¹⁹ “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.”²⁰

Judges 14:4

14:4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing,²¹ because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines²² (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel).

Judges 14:17

14:17 She cried on his shoulder²³ until the party was almost over.²⁴ Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much.²⁵ Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle.²⁶

Judges 18:28

18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city²⁷ was far from Sidon²⁸ and they had no dealings with anyone.²⁹ The city³⁰ was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites³¹ rebuilt the city and occupied it.

Judges 20:6

20:6 I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces³² throughout the territory occupied by Israel,³³ because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity³⁴ in Israel.

¹tn Or “seized possession of”; or “occupied.”

²tc Several textual witnesses support the inclusion of this verb.

³tn 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.

⁴tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).

⁵tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”

⁶tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷tn 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.

⁸tn Heb “with strength.”

⁹tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub-Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight!”

¹⁰tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

¹¹tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.

¹²tn Heb “who are at my feet.”

¹³tn Heb “said to them.”

¹⁴tn Heb “Give to me, each one, an earring from his plunder.”

¹⁵tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Midianites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶tn Heb “his brothers.”

¹⁷tn The word “legitimate” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁸tn Heb “remained.”

¹⁹tn Heb “because they said.”

²⁰tc Heb “Refugees of Ephraim are you, O Gilead, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” The LXX omits the entire second half of the verse (beginning with “because”). The words כִּי אָמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם (ki ’amru pÿlitey ’efrayim, “because they said, ‘Refugees of Ephraim’”) may have been accidentally copied from the next verse (cf. כִּי יֹאמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם, ki yo’mÿru pelitey ’efrayim) and the following words (“you, O Gilead…Manasseh”) then added in an attempt to make sense of the verse. See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 307-8, and C. F. Burney, Judges, 327. If the Hebrew text is retained, then the Ephraimites appear to be insulting the Gileadites by describing them as refugees who are squatting on Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s land. The present translation assumes that “Ephraim” is a genitive of location after “refugees.”

²¹tn Heb “this was from the LORD.”

²²tn Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.”

²³tn Heb “on him.”

²⁴tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.

²⁵tn Heb “because she forced him.”

²⁶tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”

²⁷tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

²⁸map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

²⁹tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

³⁰tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

³¹tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³²tn Heb “her”; the referent is more naturally stated in English as “the pieces.”

³³tn Heb “throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel.”

³⁴tn Heb “a wicked and disgraceful [thing].”