2:20 The Lord was furious with Israel. 4 He said, “This nation 5 has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors 6 by disobeying me. 7
6:22 When Gideon realized 13 that it was the Lord’s messenger, he 14 said, “Oh no! 15 Master, Lord! 16 I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!”
17:7 There was a young man from Bethlehem 38 in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah. 39
1 tn Heb “All that generation were gathered to their fathers.”
2 tn Heb “arose after them.”
3 tn Heb “that did not know the
4 tn Or “The
5 tn Heb “Because this nation.”
6 tn Heb “my covenant which I commanded their fathers.”
7 tn Heb “and has not listened to my voice.” The expression “to not listen to [God’s] voice” is idiomatic here for disobeying him.
8 tn The words “this is why” are interpretive.
9 tn Or “quickly.”
10 tn Heb “to know if they would hear the commands of the
11 tn Heb “and he gathered to him.”
12 tn The Hebrew term גֹּמֶד (gomed) denotes a unit of linear measure, perhaps a cubit (the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger – approximately 18 inches [45 cm]). Some suggest it is equivalent to the short cubit (the distance between the elbow and the knuckles of the clenched fist – approximately 13 inches [33 cm]) or to the span (the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger in a spread hand – approximately 9 inches [23 cm]). See BDB 167 s.v.; HALOT 196 s.v.; B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 142.
13 tn Heb “saw.”
14 tn Heb “Gideon.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
15 tn Or “Ah!”
16 tn The Hebrew text reads אֲדֹנַי יְהוִה (’adonay yÿhvih, “Lord [the same title used in v. 15],
17 tn Heb “God did so that night.”
18 tn Or “look.”
19 tn Heb “gleanings.”
20 sn Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest. Gideon employs an agricultural metaphor. He argues that Ephraim’s mopping up operations, though seemingly like the inferior grapes which are missed initially by the harvesters or left for the poor, are actually more noteworthy than the military efforts of Gideon’s family.
21 tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”
22 tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”
23 tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”
24 tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.”
25 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 tn Or “routed”; Heb “caused to panic.”
27 tn Heb “did not do loyalty with,” or “did not act faithfully toward.”
28 tn Heb “an evil spirit.” A nonphysical, spirit being is in view, like the one who volunteered to deceive Ahab (1 Kgs 22:21). The traditional translation, “evil spirit,” implies the being is inherently wicked, perhaps even demonic, but this is not necessarily the case. The Hebrew adjective רָעַה (ra’ah) can have a nonethical sense, “harmful; dangerous; calamitous.” When modifying רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) it may simply indicate that the being in view causes harm to the object of God’s judgment. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 253) here refers to a “mischief-making spirit.”
29 tn Heb “The leaders of Shechem were disloyal.” The words “he made” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
30 tn Heb “Look! He and the people who are with him will come out to you, and you will do to him what your hand finds [to do].”
31 tn Heb “Sihon.” The proper name (“Sihon”) has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) because of English style; a repetition of the proper name here would be redundant in English.
32 tn Heb “all his people” (also in the following verse).
33 tn Traditionally, “foxes.”
34 tn Heb “He turned tail to tail and placed one torch between the two tails in the middle.”
35 tn Heb “house of God.”
36 sn Here an ephod probably refers to a priestly garment (cf. Exod 28:4-6).
37 tn Heb “and he filled the hand of one of his sons and he became his priest.”
38 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
39 tn Heb “There was a young man from Bethlehem of Judah, from the tribe of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he was temporarily residing there.”
40 tn Heb “And I am going to reside in a place I can find.”
41 tn Heb “turned aside.”
42 tn Heb “Micah’s house.”
43 tn Heb “they asked him concerning peace.”
44 tn Heb “saw.”
45 tn Heb “they were stronger than he.”
46 tn Or “young man.”
47 tn Heb “we will enter one of the places.”
48 tn Heb “the man, the traveler.”