Judges 3:8

3:8 The Lord was furious with Israel¹ and turned them over to² King Cushan-Rishathaim³ of Aram-Naharaim. They were Cushan-Rishathaim’s subjects⁴ for eight years.

Judges 3:10

3:10 The Lord’s spirit empowered him⁵ and he led Israel. When he went to do battle, the Lord handed over to him King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram and he overpowered him.⁶

Judges 3:12

Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight.⁷ The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel⁸ because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

Judges 4:7

4:7 I will bring Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to you at the Kishon River, along with his chariots and huge army.⁹ I will hand him over to you.”

Judges 4:9

4:9 She said, “I will indeed go with you. But you will not gain fame¹⁰ on the expedition you are undertaking,¹¹ for the Lord will turn Sisera over to a woman.”¹² Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Judges 4:14

4:14 Deborah said to Barak, “Spring into action,¹³ for this is the day the Lord is handing Sisera over to you!¹⁴ Has the Lord not taken the lead?”¹⁵ Barak quickly went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

Judges 4:18

4:18 Jael came out to welcome Sisera. She said to him, “Stop and rest,¹⁶ my lord. Stop and rest with me. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera¹⁷ stopped to rest in her tent, and she put a blanket over him.

Judges 7:7

7:7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army¹⁸ and I will hand Midian over to you.¹⁹ The rest of the men should go home.”²⁰

Judges 7:14-15

7:14 The other man said,²¹ “Without a doubt this symbolizes²² the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

Gideon Routs the Enemy

7:15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God.²³ Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!”

Judges 9:2

9:2 “Tell²⁴ all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want²⁵ to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’”²⁶

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 leveled²⁷ the city and spread salt over it.²⁸

Judges 11:21

11:21 The Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and his whole army over to Israel and they defeated them. Israel took²⁹ all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land.

Judges 12:3

12:3 When I saw that you were not going to help,³⁰ I risked my life³¹ and advanced against³² the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up³³ to fight with me today?”

Judges 12:5

12:5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan River³⁴ opposite Ephraim.³⁵ Whenever an Ephraimite fugitive³⁶ said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked³⁷ him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”

Judges 14:17

14:17 She cried on his shoulder³⁸ until the party was almost over.³⁹ Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much.⁴⁰ Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle.⁴¹

Judges 15:12-13

15:12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me⁴² you will not kill⁴³ me.” 15:13 They said to him, “We promise!⁴⁴ We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

Judges 16:23-24

Samson’s Death and Burial

16:23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.” 16:24 When the people saw him,⁴⁵ they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!”⁴⁶

Judges 20:13

20:13 Now, hand over the good-for-nothings⁴⁷ in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness.”⁴⁸ But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.

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

²tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”

³tn Or “Cushan the Doubly Wicked.”

⁴tn Or “they served Cushan-Rishathaim.”

⁵tn Heb “was on him.”

⁶tn Heb “his hand was strong against Cushan-Rishathaim.”

⁷tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).

⁸tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”

⁹tn Heb “horde”; “multitude.”

¹⁰tn Or “honor.”

¹¹tn Heb “on [account of (?)] the way which you are walking.” Another option is to translate, “due to the way you are going about this.” In this case direct reference is made to Barak’s hesitancy as the reason for his loss of glory.

¹²tn Heb “for into the hands of a woman the Lord will sell Sisera.”

¹³tn Heb “Arise!”

¹⁴tn The verb form (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”

¹⁵tn Heb “Has the Lord not gone out before you?”

¹⁶tn Heb “Turn aside” (also a second time later in this verse).

¹⁷tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸tn Heb “you.” The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.

¹⁹tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.

²⁰tn Heb “All the people should go, each to his place.”

²¹tn Heb “answered and said.”

²²tn Heb “This can be nothing but.”

²³tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”

²⁴tn Heb “Speak into the ears of.”

²⁵tn Heb “What good is it to you?”

²⁶tn Heb “your bone and your flesh.”

²⁷tn Or “destroyed.”

²⁸tn 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.

²⁹tn That is, took as its own possession.

³⁰tn Heb “you were no deliverer.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX has “no one was helping.”

³¹tn Heb “I put my life in my hand.”

³²tn Heb “crossed over to.”

³³tn The Hebrew adds “against me” here. This is redundant in English and has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³⁴tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.

³⁵tn Or “against Ephraim,” that is, so as to prevent Ephraim from crossing.

³⁶tn The Hebrew text has a plural form here.

³⁷tn Heb “say to.”

³⁸tn Heb “on him.”

³⁹tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.

⁴⁰tn Heb “because she forced him.”

⁴¹tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”

⁴²tn Or “swear to me.”

⁴³tn Heb “meet [with hostility]”; “harm.” In light of v. 13, “kill” is an appropriate translation.

⁴⁴tn Heb “No,” meaning that they will not harm him.

⁴⁵tn Most interpret this as a reference to Samson, but this seems premature, since v. 25 suggests he was not yet standing before them. Consequently some prefer to see this statement as displaced and move it to v. 25 (see C. F. Burney, Judges, 387). It seems more likely that the pronoun refers to an image of Dagon.

⁴⁶tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”

⁴⁷tn Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”

⁴⁸tn Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”