Judges 2:20

A Divine Decision

2:20 The Lord was furious with Israel. ¹  He said, “This nation ²  has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors ³  by disobeying me. ⁴ 

Judges 3:16

3:16 Ehud made himself a sword – it had two edges and was eighteen inches long. ⁵  He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh.

Judges 6:2

6:2 The Midianites ⁶  overwhelmed Israel. ⁷  Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters ⁸  for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Judges 8:8

8:8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. ⁹  The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. ¹⁰ 

Judges 9:6

9:6 All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar ¹¹  in Shechem.

Judges 9:23

9:23 God sent a spirit to stir up hostility ¹²  between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. He made the leaders of Shechem disloyal ¹³  to Abimelech.

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 ¹⁴  before the Lord in Mizpah.

Judges 17:5

17:5 Now this man Micah owned a shrine. ¹⁵  He made an ephod ¹⁶  and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest. ¹⁷ 

Judges 20:37

20:37 The men hiding in ambush made a mad dash ¹⁸  to Gibeah. They ¹⁹  attacked ²⁰  and put the sword to the entire city.

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¹ tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”

² tn Heb “Because this nation.”

³ tn Heb “my covenant which I commanded their fathers.”

⁴ tn Heb “and has not listened to my voice.” The expression “to not listen to [God’s] voice” is idiomatic here for disobeying him.

⁵ tn The Hebrew term גֹּמֶד (gomed) denotes a unit of linear measure, perhaps a cubit (the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger – approximately 18 inches [45 cm]). Some suggest it is equivalent to the short cubit (the distance between the elbow and the knuckles of the clenched fist – approximately 13 inches [33 cm]) or to the span (the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger in a spread hand – approximately 9 inches [23 cm]). See BDB 167 s.v.; HALOT 196 s.v.; B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 142.

⁶ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

⁷ tn Heb “The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.”

⁸ tn Or possibly “secret storage places.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

⁹ tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.”

¹¹ tc The translation assumes that the form in the Hebrew text (מֻצָּב, mutsav) is a corruption of an original מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, “pillar”). The reference is probably to a pagan object of worship (cf. LXX).

¹² tn Heb “an evil spirit.” A nonphysical, spirit being is in view, like the one who volunteered to deceive Ahab (1 Kgs 22:21). The traditional translation, “evil spirit,” implies the being is inherently wicked, perhaps even demonic, but this is not necessarily the case. The Hebrew adjective רָעַה (ra’ah) can have a nonethical sense, “harmful; dangerous; calamitous.” When modifying רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) it may simply indicate that the being in view causes harm to the object of God’s judgment. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 253) here refers to a “mischief-making spirit.”

¹³ tn Heb “The leaders of Shechem were disloyal.” The words “he made” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ tn Heb “house of God.”

¹⁶ sn Here an ephod probably refers to a priestly garment (cf. Exod 28:4-6).

¹⁷ tn Heb “and he filled the hand of one of his sons and he became his priest.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “hurried and put off [their hiding place].”

¹⁹ tn Heb “the men hiding in ambush.”

²⁰ tn Or “deployed.” The verb normally means “to lead” or “to draw.”