3:1 These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites. 5
7:1 Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men 22 got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. 23 The Midianites 24 were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.
9:1 Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. 26 He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, 27
12:2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. 39 I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. 40 12:3 When I saw that you were not going to help, 41 I risked my life 42 and advanced against 43 the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up 44 to fight with me today?” 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, 45 “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.” 46
“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.
14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes 50 and gave them 51 to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. 52
16:25 When they really started celebrating, 56 they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. 57 They made him stand between two pillars.
18:27 Now the Danites 65 took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. 66
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 “did not know the wars of Canaan.”
6 tn Or “The
7 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
8 tn Or “Cushan the Doubly Wicked.”
9 tn Or “they served Cushan-Rishathaim.”
10 tn Heb “the
11 tn Or “delivered.”
12 tn “Caleb’s younger brother” may refer to Othniel or to Kenaz (in which case Othniel is Caleb’s nephew).
13 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
14 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.
15 tn Or “against Moab,” that is, so as to prevent the Moabites from crossing.
16 tn Heb “the
17 tn Heb “a man, a prophet.” Hebrew idiom sometimes puts a generic term before a more specific designation.
18 tc Some ancient witnesses read “from the land of Egypt.” מֵאֶרֶץ (me’erets, “from the land [of]”) could have been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton (note the following מִמִּצְרַיִם [mimmitsrayim, “from Egypt”]).
19 tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”
20 tn Heb “hand” (also a second time later in this verse).
21 tn Heb “and he also was summoned after him.”
22 tn Heb “and all the people who were with him.”
23 sn The name Harod means, ironically, “trembling.”
24 tn Heb “Midian.” The LXX reads “and Amalek” (cf. v. 12; 6:33).
25 tn The words “I swear” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
26 tn Heb “brothers.”
27 tn Heb “to all the extended family of the house of the father of his mother.”
28 tn Heb “Should I stop my abundance, with which they honor gods and men, and go to sway over the trees?” The negative sentence in the translation reflects the force of the rhetorical question.
29 tn Heb “Should I stop my wine, which makes happy gods and men, and go to sway over the trees?” The negative sentence in the translation reflects the force of the rhetorical question.
30 tn Heb “is your mouth that says.”
31 tn Heb “the people.”
32 tn Or “despised.”
33 tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”
34 tn Heb “stood [at].”
35 tn “All right” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
36 tn Heb “places them before me.”
37 tn Some translate the final statement as a question, “will I really be your leader?” An affirmative sentence is preferable. Jephthah is repeating the terms of the agreement in an official manner. In v. 10 the leaders legally agree to these terms.
38 tn That is, took as its own possession.
39 tn Heb A man of great strife I was and my people and the Ammonites.”
40 tn Heb “hand.”
41 tn Heb “you were no deliverer.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX has “no one was helping.”
42 tn Heb “I put my life in my hand.”
43 tn Heb “crossed over to.”
44 tn The Hebrew adds “against me” here. This is redundant in English and has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
45 tn Heb “because they said.”
46 tc 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.”
47 tc Heb “Doing an extraordinary deed while Manoah and his wife were watching.” The subject of the participle is missing. The translation assumes that the phrase “the
48 tn Heb “If you really can tell it to me [during] the seven days of the feast and you find [its answer].”
49 tn Heb “changes.”
50 tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”
51 tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”
52 tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”
53 tn Or “swear to me.”
54 tn Heb “meet [with hostility]”; “harm.” In light of v. 13, “kill” is an appropriate translation.
55 tn Heb “No,” meaning that they will not harm him.
56 tn Heb “When their heart was good.”
57 tn Heb “before them.”
58 tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house was founded.”
59 tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”
60 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”
61 tn Heb “But you are inactive.”
62 tn Or “be lazy.”
63 tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”
64 tn Heb “These went into Micah’s house and took.”
65 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
66 tn The Hebrew adds “with fire.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.
67 tn Heb “And they sat and ate, the two of them together, and they drank.”
68 tn Heb “Be willing and spend the night so that your heart might be good.”
69 tn Heb “they turned aside there to enter to spend the night.”
70 tn Heb “and he entered and sat down, and there was no one receiving them into the house to spend the night.”
71 tn Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”
72 tn Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”
73 tn Heb “I” (collective singular).
74 tn Heb “approach for battle.”
75 tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).
76 tn Heb “Go up against him” (collective singular).
77 tn Or “run away.”
78 tn Heb “him” (collective singular).
79 tn Heb “to the sons of Benjamin.”
80 tc The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים (me’ir mÿtim, “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם (me’ir mÿtom, “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).
81 tn Heb “Also all the cities that were found they set on fire.”
82 tn Heb “What should we do for them, for the remaining ones, concerning wives?”
83 tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”
84 tn Heb “there.”
85 tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”
86 tn Heb “who had not known a man with respect to the bed of a male.”