2:14 The Lord was furious with Israel 5 and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. 6 He turned them over to 7 their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. 8
3:24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s 15 servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself 16 in the well-ventilated inner room.” 17
8:18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me 44 the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.” 45 8:19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, 46 as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
9:1 Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. 54 He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, 55
10:1 After Abimelech’s death, 65 Tola son of Puah, grandson 66 of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar, 67 rose up to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraimite hill country.
11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out 75 to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. 76 She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.
13:8 Manoah prayed to the Lord, 85 “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God 86 to visit 87 us again, so he can teach 88 us how we should raise 89 the child who will be born.”
“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;
out of the strong one came something sweet.”
They could not solve the riddle for three days.
19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite 111 living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine 112 from Bethlehem 113 in Judah.
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 Or “The
6 tn Heb “robbers who robbed them.” (The verb שָׁסָה [shasah] appears twice in the verse.)
sn The expression robbers who plundered them is a derogatory reference to the enemy nations, as the next line indicates.
7 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
8 tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “the
10 tn Or “delivered.”
11 tn “Caleb’s younger brother” may refer to Othniel or to Kenaz (in which case Othniel is Caleb’s nephew).
12 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.
13 tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”
14 tn Or “throne.”
15 tn Heb “his.”
16 tn Heb “covering his feet” (i.e., with his outer garments while he relieves himself).
17 tn The Hebrew expression translated “well-ventilated inner room” may refer to the upper room itself or to a bathroom attached to or within it.
18 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
19 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.
20 tn Or “against Moab,” that is, so as to prevent the Moabites from crossing.
21 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tn 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.
23 tn Heb “with strength.”
24 tn Or “separated.”
25 tn Heb “pitched his tent.”
26 tn Heb “and let him die.” The jussive form with vav after the imperative is best translated as a purpose clause.
27 tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub-Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight!”
28 tn Heb “the people.”
29 tn Heb “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, put him by himself, as well as the one who gets down on his knees to drink.”
30 tn Heb “The people.”
31 tn The words “who were chosen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
32 tn The Hebrew text has “in their hands.”
33 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
34 tn Heb “tents.”
35 tn Heb “Midian.”
36 tn The Hebrew text adds “him” (i.e., Gideon).
37 tn Heb “your hands will be strengthened.”
38 tn Heb “to the edge of the ones in battle array who were in the camp.”
39 tn Or perhaps, “sell.”
40 tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.
41 tn Heb “who are at my feet.”
42 tn Heb “from the men of Succoth.”
43 tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”
44 tn Heb “Where are?”
45 tn Heb “each one like the appearance of sons of the king.”
46 tn The words “I swear” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
47 sn Seventeen hundred gold shekels would be about 42.7 pounds (19.4 kilograms) of gold.
48 tn Or “pendants.”
49 tn Heb “the ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.”
50 tn Heb “made it into.”
51 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.
52 tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).
53 tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
54 tn Heb “brothers.”
55 tn Heb “to all the extended family of the house of the father of his mother.”
56 tn Heb “brothers.”
57 tn Heb “into the ears of.”
58 tn Heb “and all these words.”
59 tn Heb “Their heart was inclined after Abimelech.”
60 tn Heb “our brother.”
61 tn The form בְּתָרְמָה (bÿtarmah) in the Hebrew text, which occurs only here, has traditionally been understood to mean “secretly” or “with deception.” If this is correct, it is derived from II רָמָה (ramah, “to deceive”). Some interpreters object, pointing out that this would imply Zebul was trying to deceive Abimelech, which is clearly not the case in this context. But this objection is unwarranted. If retained, the phrase would refer instead to deceptive measures used by Zebul to avoid the suspicion of Gaal when he dispatched the messengers from Shechem. The present translation assumes an emendation to “in Arumah” (בָּארוּמָה, ba’rumah), a site mentioned in v. 41 as the headquarters of Abimelech. Confusion of alef and tav in archaic Hebrew script, while uncommon, is certainly not unimaginable.
62 tn Heb “Look!”
63 tn The participle, as used here, suggests Gaal and his brothers are in the process of arriving, but the preceding verses imply they have already settled in. Perhaps Zebul uses understatement to avoid the appearance of negligence on his part. After all, if he made the situation sound too bad, Abimelech, when he was informed, might ask why he had allowed this rebellion to reach such a stage.
64 tn The words “to rebel” are interpretive. The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb צוּר (tsur) is unclear here. It is best to take it in the sense of “to instigate; to incite; to provoke” (see Deut 2:9, 19 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 178).
65 tn The word “death” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
66 tn Heb “son.”
67 tn Heb “a man of Issachar.”
68 sn The name Habboth Jair means “tent villages of Jair” in Hebrew.
69 tn Heb “they call them Havvoth Jair to this day – which are in the land of Gilead.”
70 tn Heb “the people, the officers.”
71 tn Heb “Who is the man who will begin fighting.”
72 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.
73 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.
74 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
75 tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”
76 tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”
77 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.
78 tn Or “against Ephraim,” that is, so as to prevent Ephraim from crossing.
79 tn The Hebrew text has a plural form here.
80 tn Heb “say to.”
81 tn Another option is to translate, “you are already pregnant and will have a son.” The earlier reference to her being infertile (v. 3) suggests that her conception is still future, but it is possible that the earlier statement only reflects her perspective (as far as she is concerned, she is infertile). According to this interpretation, in v. 5 the angel reveals the truth to her – actually she has recently conceived and is now pregnant (see the translation in R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 217). Usage favors this interpretation. The predicate adjective הָרָה (harah, “[be/become] pregnant”) elsewhere has a past (1 Sam 4:19) or present (Gen 16:11; 38:25; 2 Sam 11:5) translation value. (The usage in Isa 7:14 is debated, but a present translation is definitely possible there.) A final, but less likely possibility, is that she miraculously conceived during the angel’s speech, sometime between his statements recorded in vv. 3 and 5.
82 tn Heb “a razor should not go up on his head.”
83 tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).
84 tn Heb “hand.”
85 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
86 tn Heb “the man of God.”
87 tn Heb “come to.”
88 tc The LXX has “enlighten,” understanding the Hebrew to read וִיאִירֵנוּ (vi’irenu, “to give light”) rather than the reading of the MT, וְיוֹרֵנוּ (vÿyorenu, “to teach”).
89 tn Heb “what we should do for.”
90 tn Heb “this was from the LORD.”
91 tn Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.”
92 tn Heb “on him.”
93 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.
94 tn Heb “because she forced him.”
95 tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”
96 tn Or “come up against.”
97 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
98 tn Heb “rushed on.”
99 tn Heb “burned with.”
100 tn Heb “his bonds.”
101 tn Heb “with which no work has been done.”
102 tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house was founded.”
103 tn Heb “and all the house of his father.”
104 tn Heb “and lifted him up and brought up.”
105 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
106 tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.
107 tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
108 tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”
109 tn Heb “He came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, making his way.”
110 tn Heb “What is this you say to me, ‘What to you?’”
111 tn Heb “a man, a Levite.”
112 sn See the note on the word “concubine” in 8:31.
113 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.