Judges 2:17
2:17 But they did not obey 1 their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped 2 them. They quickly turned aside from the path 3 their ancestors 4 had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. 5
Judges 7:4
7:4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. 6 Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. 7 When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; 8 when I say, 9 ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” 10
Judges 9:28
9:28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? 11 Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech? 12
Judges 13:6-7
13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God 13 came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. 14 I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.
13:7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. 15 So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. 16 For the child will be dedicated 17 to God from birth till the day he dies.’”
Judges 13:16
13:16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, 18 I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) 19
Judges 13:23
13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. 20 He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”
Judges 14:18
14:18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him, “What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
He said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer, 21
you would not have solved my riddle!”
1 tn Or “did not listen to.”
2 tn Or “bowed before.”
3 tn Or “way [of life].”
4 tn Or “fathers.”
5 tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”
6 tn Heb “too many people.”
7 tn Heb “test them for you there.”
8 tn Heb “he should go with you.”
9 tn Heb also has “to you.”
10 tn Heb “he should not go.”
11 tn Heb “and Zebul his appointee.”
12 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abimelech) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Heb “The man of God.”
14 tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”
15 tn See the note on the word “son” in 13:5, where this same statement occurs.
16 tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”
17 tn Traditionally “a Nazirite.”
18 tn Heb “If you detain me.”
19 tn The words “he said this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Manoah should have known from these words that the messenger represented the Lord. In the preceding narrative the narrator has informed the reader that the visitor is the Lord’s messenger, but Manoah and his wife did not perceive this. In vv. 5 and 7 the angel refers to “God” (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim), not the Lord (יְהוַה, yÿhvah). Manoah’s wife calls the visitor “a man sent from God” and “God’s messenger” (v. 6), while Manoah prays to the “Lord” (אֲדוֹנָי, ’adonay) and calls the visitor “a man sent from God” (v. 8).
20 tn Heb “our hand.”
21 sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.