Judges 18:2

18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, ¹  capable men ²  from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. ³ 

Judges 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ⁴  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ⁵  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ⁶  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ⁷  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁸ 

Judges 18:14

18:14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish ⁹  said to their kinsmen, ¹⁰  “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”

Judges 18:17

18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole ¹¹  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. ¹² 

Judges 20:45

20:45 The rest ¹³  turned and ran toward the wilderness, heading toward the cliff of Rimmon. But the Israelites ¹⁴  caught ¹⁵  five thousand of them on the main roads. They stayed right on their heels ¹⁶  all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

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¹ tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

² tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

³ tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”

⁴ tn Or “went.”

⁵ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

⁶ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

⁷ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

⁸ tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.

⁹ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX lacks the phrase “of Laish.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “brothers.”

¹¹ tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”

¹² tn Heb “six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war.”

¹³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the rest [of the Benjaminites]) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵ tn Heb “gleaned.” The word is an agricultural term which pictures Israelites picking off the Benjaminites as easily as one picks grapes from the vine.

¹⁶ tn Heb “stuck close after them.”