1:14 One time Acsah 5 came and charmed her father 6 so she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”
9:16 “Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, 26 if you have properly repaid him 27 –
11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out 33 to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. 34 She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.
14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes 52 and gave them 53 to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. 54
16:15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? 59 Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.”
16:25 When they really started celebrating, 66 they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. 67 They made him stand between two pillars.
1 tn Elsewhere this verb usually carries the sense of “to gather; to pick up; to glean,” but “lick up” seems best here in light of the peculiar circumstances described by Adoni-Bezek.
2 tn The words “food scraps” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
3 tn Heb “Just as I did, so God has repaid me.” Note that the phrase “to them” has been supplied in the translation to clarify what is meant.
4 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
5 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “him.” The pronoun could refer to Othniel, in which case one would translate, “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Acsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 15. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18 // Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. The translation takes Caleb to be the referent, specified as “her father.”
7 tn Or “served”; or “followed.”
8 tn Or perhaps “elders,” which could be interpreted to mean “leaders.”
9 tn Heb “all the days of Joshua and all the days of the old men who outlived him, who had seen.”
10 tn Heb “the great work of the
11 tn Or “cool.” This probably refers to a room with latticed windows which allowed the breeze to pass through. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 144.
12 tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”
13 tn Or “throne.”
14 tn Heb “for the Lord has given your enemies, Moab, into your hand.” The verb form (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the
15 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.
16 tn Or “against Moab,” that is, so as to prevent the Moabites from crossing.
17 tn Heb “horde”; “multitude.”
18 tn Heb “Sisera.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
19 tn Or “summoned.”
20 tn Heb “Arise!”
21 tn The verb form (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the
22 tn Heb “Has the
23 tn Heb “and let him die.” The jussive form with vav after the imperative is best translated as a purpose clause.
24 tn Heb “answered and said.”
25 tn Heb “This can be nothing but.”
26 tn Heb “house.”
27 tn Heb “if according to the deeds of his hands you have done to him.”
28 tn Heb “the people” (also in vv. 38, 43, 48). These were warriors, so “men” has been used in the translation, since in ancient Israelite culture soldiers would have been exclusively males.
29 tn Heb “the shadow on the hills you are seeing, like men.”
30 tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotse’, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.
31 tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.
32 tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the
33 tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”
34 tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”
35 tn The conjunction “since” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
36 tn Heb “you opened your mouth to the
37 tn Or “has given you vengeance against.”
38 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.
39 tn Or “against Ephraim,” that is, so as to prevent Ephraim from crossing.
40 tn The Hebrew text has a plural form here.
41 tn Heb “say to.”
42 tn Heb “came to.”
43 tn Heb “the woman.”
44 tn Heb “I [am].”
45 tn Heb “rushed on.”
46 tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
47 tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”
48 tn Heb “on him.”
49 tn 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.
50 tn Heb “because she forced him.”
51 tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”
52 tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”
53 tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”
54 tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”
55 tn Or “come up against.”
56 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
57 tn Or “swear to me.”
58 tn Heb “meet [with hostility]”; “harm.” In light of v. 13, “kill” is an appropriate translation.
59 tn Heb “when your heart is not with me.”
60 tn Heb “are upon you.”
61 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
62 tn Heb “and said.”
63 tn Heb “I will go out as before.”
64 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.
65 tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”
66 tn Heb “When their heart was good.”
67 tn Heb “before them.”
68 tn Or “When they were near.”
69 tn Heb “voice.” This probably means that “his speech was Judahite [i.e., southern] like their own, not Israelite [i.e., northern]” (R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 263).
70 tn Heb “turned aside.”
71 tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”
72 tn Heb “and he arose and went.”
73 tn Heb “to the front of.”
74 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
75 tc Some ancient witnesses add “and his servant.”
76 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
77 tn Heb “and he caused [her] to go outside to them.”
78 tn Heb “knew,” in the sexual sense.