Judges 12:9

12:9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, ¹  and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. ²  Ibzan ³  led ⁴  Israel for seven years;

Judges 21:22

21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, ⁵  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ⁶  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ⁷  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ⁸  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ⁹ 

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¹ tn Heb “thirty daughters he sent off outside.” Another option is to translate, “He arranged for his thirty daughters…” It is not clear if he had more than the “thirty daughters” mentioned in the text.

² tn Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”

³ tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

⁵ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

⁶ tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁷ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

sn Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.

⁸ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

⁹ tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.