Judges 3:25

3:25 They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors.¹ Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor!²

Judges 4:21

4:21 Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other.³ She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground⁴ while he was asleep from exhaustion,⁵ and he died.

Judges 6:27

6:27 So Gideon took ten of his servants⁶ and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family⁷ and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime.⁸

Judges 7:24

Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites

7:24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites.⁹ Take control of the fords of the streams¹⁰ all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.”¹¹ When all the Ephraimites had assembled,¹² they took control of the fords¹³ all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.

Judges 8:21

8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon,¹⁴ “Come on,¹⁵ you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.”¹⁶ So Gideon killed¹⁷ Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

Judges 9:48

9:48 He and all his men¹⁸ went up on Mount Zalmon. He¹⁹ took an ax²⁰ in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it²¹ on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!”²²

Judges 15:1

Samson Versus the Philistines

15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest,²³ Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride.²⁴ He said to her father,²⁵ “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!”²⁶ But her father would not let him enter.

Judges 15:6

15:6 The Philistines asked,²⁷ “Who did this?” They were told,²⁸ “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite²⁹ took Samson’s³⁰ bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.³¹

Judges 15:19

15:19 So God split open the basin³² at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength³³ was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring³⁴ En Hakkore.³⁵ It remains in Lehi to this very day.

Judges 16:12

16:12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here,³⁶ Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.)³⁷ But he tore the ropes³⁸ from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

¹tn The words “the doors” are supplied.

²tn Heb “See, their master, fallen to the ground, dead.”

³tn Heb “took a tent peg and put a hammer in her hand.”

⁴tn Heb “and it went into the ground.”

⁵tn Heb “and exhausted.” Another option is to understand this as a reference to the result of the fatal blow. In this case, the phrase could be translated, “and he breathed his last.”

⁶tn Heb “men from among his servants.”

⁷tn Heb “house.”

⁸tn Heb “so he did it at night.”

⁹tn Heb “to meet Midian.”

¹⁰tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”

¹¹tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).

¹²tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”

¹³tn Heb “they captured the waters.”

¹⁴tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁵tn Or “Arise.”

¹⁶tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”

¹⁷tn Heb “arose and killed.”

¹⁸tn Heb “his people.”

¹⁹tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.

²⁰tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.

²¹tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”

²²tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”

²³sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.

²⁴tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”

²⁵tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).

²⁶tn Heb “I will go to my wife in the bedroom.” The Hebrew idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations. The cohortative form used by Samson can be translated as indicating resolve (“I want to go”) or request (“let me go”).

²⁷tn Or “said.”

²⁸tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

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

³⁰tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³¹tn 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.

³²tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface.

³³tn Heb “spirit.”

³⁴tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁵sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.”

³⁶tn Heb “are upon you.”

³⁷tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting in the bedroom.”

³⁸tn Heb “them”; the referent (the ropes) has been specified in the translation for clarity.