Judges 1:3

1:3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon,¹ “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites.² Then we³ will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them.

Judges 2:1

Confrontation and Repentance at Bokim

2:1 The Lord’s angelic messenger⁴ went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors.⁵ I said, ‘I will never break my agreement⁶ with you,

Judges 6:26

6:26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern.⁷ Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.”

Judges 9:18

9:18 But you have attacked⁸ my father’s family⁹ today. You murdered his seventy legitimate¹⁰ sons on one stone and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the leaders of Shechem, just because he is your close relative.¹¹

Judges 11:17

11:17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please allow us¹² to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request.¹³ Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate.¹⁴ So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

Judges 13:16

13:16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay,¹⁵ I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.)¹⁶

Judges 14:3

14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our¹⁷ people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.”¹⁸ But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me,¹⁹ because she is the right one for me.”²⁰

Judges 19:9

19:9 When the man got ready to leave²¹ with his concubine and his servant,²² his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! The day is almost over!²³ Stay another night! Since the day is over,²⁴ stay another night here and have a good time. You can get up early tomorrow and start your trip home.”²⁵

Judges 21:21-22

21:21 and keep your eyes open.²⁶ When you see²⁷ the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration,²⁸ jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin. 21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us,²⁹ we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be,³⁰ for we could not get each one a wife through battle.³¹ Don’t worry about breaking your oath!³² You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’”³³

¹tn Heb “Judah said to Simeon, his brother.”

²tn Heb “Come up with me into our allotted land and let us attack the Canaanites.”

³tn Heb “I.” The Hebrew pronoun is singular, agreeing with the collective singular “Judah” earlier in the verse. English style requires a plural pronoun here, however.

⁴sn See Exod 14:19; 23:20.

⁵tn Heb “the land that I had sworn to your fathers.”

⁶tn Or “covenant” (also in the following verse).

⁷tn Possibly “in a row” or “in a layer,” perhaps referring to the arrangement of the stones used in the altar’s construction.

⁸tn Heb “have risen up against.”

⁹tn Heb “house.”

¹⁰tn The word “legitimate” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹¹tn Heb “your brother.”

¹²tn Heb “me.” (Collective Israel is the speaker.)

¹³tn Heb “did not listen.”

¹⁴tn Heb “Also to the king of Moab he sent, but he was unwilling.”

¹⁵tn Heb “If you detain me.”

¹⁶tn The words “he said this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Manoah should have known from these words that the messenger represented the Lord. In the preceding narrative the narrator has informed the reader that the visitor is the Lord’s messenger, but Manoah and his wife did not perceive this. In vv. 5 and 7 the angel refers to “God” (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim), not the Lord (יְהוַה, yÿhvah). Manoah’s wife calls the visitor “a man sent from God” and “God’s messenger” (v. 6), while Manoah prays to the “Lord” (אֲדוֹנָי, ’adonay) and calls the visitor “a man sent from God” (v. 8).

¹⁷tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading.

¹⁸tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?”

¹⁹tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357.

²⁰tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”

²¹tn Heb “the man arose to go.”

²²tn Or “young man.”

²³tn Heb “the day is sinking to become evening.”

²⁴tn Or “declining.”

²⁵tn Heb “for your way and go to your tent.”

²⁶tn Heb “and look.”

²⁷tn Heb “and look, when.”

²⁸tn Heb “in the dances.”

²⁹tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

³⁰tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³¹tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

sn Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.

³²tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

³³tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.