Judges 1:7

1:7 Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up¹ food scraps² under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.”³ They brought him to Jerusalem,⁴ where he died.

Judges 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him,⁵ “Must you fight Baal’s battles?⁶ Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause⁷ will die by morning!⁸ If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles!⁹ After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.”¹⁰

Judges 6:39

6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign.¹¹ Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.”¹²

Judges 13:7

13:7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son.¹³ So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean.¹⁴ For the child will be dedicated¹⁵ to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

Judges 15:19

15:19 So God split open the basin¹⁶ at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength¹⁷ was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring¹⁸ En Hakkore.¹⁹ It remains in Lehi to this very day.

Judges 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret.²⁰ He said to her, “My hair has never been cut,²¹ for I have been dedicated to God²² from the time I was conceived.²³ If my head²⁴ were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

¹tn 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.

²tn The words “food scraps” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

³tn 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.

⁴map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

⁶tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

⁷tn Heb “fights for him.”

⁸sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.

⁹tn Heb “fight for himself.”

¹⁰tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).

¹¹tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”

¹²tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”

¹³tn See the note on the word “son” in 13:5, where this same statement occurs.

¹⁴tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”

¹⁵tn Traditionally “a Nazirite.”

¹⁶tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface.

¹⁷tn Heb “spirit.”

¹⁸tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.”

²⁰tn Heb “all his heart.”

²¹tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

²²tn 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”).

²³tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

²⁴tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).