Judges 11:11

11:11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement ¹  before the Lord in Mizpah.

Judges 11:23

11:23 Since ²  the Lord God of Israel has driven out ³  the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? ⁴ 

Judges 20:1

Civil War Breaks Out

20:1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba ⁵  and from the land of Gilead ⁶  left their homes ⁷  and assembled together ⁸  before the Lord at Mizpah.

Judges 20:22

20:22 The Israelite army ⁹  took heart ¹⁰  and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

Judges 20:36

20:36 Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated.

The Israelites retreated before ¹¹  Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.

Judges 20:42

20:42 They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook ¹²  them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down. ¹³ 

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¹ tn Heb “spoke all his words.” This probably refers to the “words” recorded in v. 9. Jephthah repeats the terms of the agreement at the Lord’s sanctuary, perhaps to ratify the contract or to emphasize the Gileadites’ obligation to keep their part of the bargain. Another option is to translate, “Jephthah conducted business before the Lord in Mizpah.” In this case, the statement is a general reference to the way Jephthah ruled. He recognized the Lord’s authority and made his decisions before the Lord.

² tn Heb “Now.”

³ tn Or “dispossessed.”

⁴ tn Heb “will you dispossess him [i.e., Israel; or possibly “it,” i.e., the territory]?” There is no interrogative marker in the Hebrew text.

⁵ sn Dan was located in the far north of the country, while Beer Sheba was located in the far south. This encompassed all the territory of the land of Canaan occupied by the Israelites.

⁶ sn The land of Gilead was on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

⁷ tn Heb “went out.”

⁸ tn Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”

⁹ tn Heb “The people, the men of Israel.”

¹⁰ tn Or “encouraged one another.”

¹¹ tn Heb “gave place to.”

¹² tn Heb “clung to”; or “stuck close.”

¹³ tn Heb “and those from the cities were striking them down in their midst.”