Judges 2:18

2:18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people¹ from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them² when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.³

Judges 5:23

5:23 ‘Call judgment down on⁴ Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic⁵ messenger;

‘Be sure⁶ to call judgment down on⁷ those who live there,

because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle,⁸

to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’⁹

Judges 9:18

9:18 But you have attacked¹⁰ my father’s family¹¹ today. You murdered his seventy legitimate¹² sons on one stone and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the leaders of Shechem, just because he is your close relative.¹³

Judges 11:2

11:2 Gilead’s wife also gave¹⁴ him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth,¹⁵ because you are another woman’s son.”

Judges 11:13

11:13 The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel stole¹⁶ my land when they¹⁷ came up from Egypt – from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan.¹⁸ Now return it¹⁹ peaceably!”

Judges 13:16

13:16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay,²⁰ 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.)²¹

Judges 14:3

14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our²² people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.”²³ But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me,²⁴ because she is the right one for me.”²⁵

Judges 15:6

15:6 The Philistines asked,²⁶ “Who did this?” They were told,²⁷ “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite²⁸ took Samson’s²⁹ bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.³⁰

Judges 18:1

The Tribe of Dan Finds an Inheritance

18:1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place³¹ to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel.³²

¹tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

³tn Heb “the ones oppressing them and afflicting them.” The synonyms “oppressing” and “afflicting” are joined together in the translation as “harsh oppressors” to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.

⁴tn Heb “Curse Meroz.”

⁵tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

⁶tn Heb “Curse, cursing.” The Hebrew construction is emphatic.

⁷tn Heb “[to] curse.”

⁸tn Heb “to the help of the Lord” (the same Hebrew phrase occurs in the following line). Another option is to read “to aid the Lord’s cause.”

⁹tn Or “along with the other warriors.”

¹⁰tn Heb “have risen up against.”

¹¹tn Heb “house.”

¹²tn The word “legitimate” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹³tn Heb “your brother.”

¹⁴tn Heb “bore.”

¹⁵tn Heb “in the house of our father.”

¹⁶tn Or “took”; or “seized.”

¹⁷tn Heb “he” (a collective singular).

¹⁸tn Heb “from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan.” The word “River” has been supplied in the translation with “Arnon” and “Jabbok,” because these are less familiar to modern readers than the Jordan.

¹⁹tc The translation assumes a singular suffix (“[return] it”); the Hebrew text has a plural suffix (“[return] them”), which, if retained, might refer to the cities of the land.

²⁰tn Heb “If you detain me.”

²¹tn 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).

²²tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading.

²³tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?”

²⁴tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357.

²⁵tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”

²⁶tn Or “said.”

²⁷tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

²⁸tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁹tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁰tn The Hebrew text expands the statement with the additional phrase “burned with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons. Some textual witnesses read “burned…her father’s house,” perhaps under the influence of 14:15. On the other hand, the shorter text may have lost this phrase due to haplography.

³¹tn Heb “an inheritance.”

³²tn Heb “because there had not fallen to them by that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel an inheritance.”