Judges 3:1

3:1 These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites. ¹ 

Judges 9:31

9:31 He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ²  reporting, “Beware! ³  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ⁴  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ⁵ 

Judges 9:45

9:45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled ⁶  the city and spread salt over it. ⁷ 

Judges 9:49

9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches ⁸  against the stronghold and set fire to it. ⁹  All the people ¹⁰  of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

Judges 10:18

10:18 The leaders ¹¹  of Gilead said to one another, “Who is willing to lead the charge ¹²  against the Ammonites? He will become the leader of all who live in Gilead!”

Judges 12:3

12:3 When I saw that you were not going to help, ¹³  I risked my life ¹⁴  and advanced against ¹⁵  the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up ¹⁶  to fight with me today?”

Judges 16:28-29

16:28 Samson called to the Lord, “O Master, Lord, ¹⁷  remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge ¹⁸  against the Philistines for my two eyes!” 16:29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple ¹⁹  and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other.

Judges 20:34

20:34 Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. ²⁰  But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. ²¹ 

Judges 21:10

21:10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors ²²  against Jabesh Gilead. ²³  They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords ²⁴  the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children.

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¹ tn Heb “did not know the wars of Canaan.”

² tn The form בְּתָרְמָה (bÿtarmah) in the Hebrew text, which occurs only here, has traditionally been understood to mean “secretly” or “with deception.” If this is correct, it is derived from II רָמָה (ramah, “to deceive”). Some interpreters object, pointing out that this would imply Zebul was trying to deceive Abimelech, which is clearly not the case in this context. But this objection is unwarranted. If retained, the phrase would refer instead to deceptive measures used by Zebul to avoid the suspicion of Gaal when he dispatched the messengers from Shechem. The present translation assumes an emendation to “in Arumah” (בָּארוּמָה, ba’rumah), a site mentioned in v. 41 as the headquarters of Abimelech. Confusion of alef and tav in archaic Hebrew script, while uncommon, is certainly not unimaginable.

³ tn Heb “Look!”

⁴ tn The participle, as used here, suggests Gaal and his brothers are in the process of arriving, but the preceding verses imply they have already settled in. Perhaps Zebul uses understatement to avoid the appearance of negligence on his part. After all, if he made the situation sound too bad, Abimelech, when he was informed, might ask why he had allowed this rebellion to reach such a stage.

⁵ tn The words “to rebel” are interpretive. The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb צוּר (tsur) is unclear here. It is best to take it in the sense of “to instigate; to incite; to provoke” (see Deut 2:9, 19 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 178).

⁶ tn Or “destroyed.”

⁷ tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”

sn The spreading of salt over the city was probably a symbolic act designed to place the site under a curse, deprive it of fertility, and prevent any future habitation. The practice is referred to outside the Bible as well. For example, one of the curses in the Aramaic Sefire treaty states concerning Arpad: “May Hadad sow in them salt and weeds, and may it not be mentioned again!” See J. A. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire (BibOr), 15, 53. Deut 29:23, Jer 17:6, and Zeph 2:9 associate salt flats or salty regions with infertility and divine judgment.

⁸ tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁹ tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”

¹⁰ tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.

¹¹ tn Heb “the people, the officers.”

¹² tn Heb “Who is the man who will begin fighting.”

¹³ tn Heb “you were no deliverer.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX has “no one was helping.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “I put my life in my hand.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “crossed over to.”

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew adds “against me” here. This is redundant in English and has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁷ tn The Hebrew has אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה (’adonay yehovih, “Lord Yahweh”).

¹⁸ tn Heb “so I can get revenge with one act of vengeance.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house was founded.”

²⁰ tn Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”

²¹ tn Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”

²² tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

²³ tn Heb “there.”

²⁴ tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”