7:15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. 7 Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!”
1 tn Heb “extended the tip of the staff which was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread.”
2 tn Heb “went from his eyes.”
3 tn Heb “the people.”
4 tn Heb “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, put him by himself, as well as the one who gets down on his knees to drink.”
5 tn Heb “your hands will be strengthened.”
6 tn Heb “to the edge of the ones in battle array who were in the camp.”
7 tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”
8 tn The Hebrew text adds, “in order to blow [them].” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “are about to anoint [with oil].”
10 tn Heb “in my shade.”
11 tn Heb “If not.”
12 tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”
13 tn Heb “stood [at].”
14 tn Or “destroyed.”
15 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.
16 tn Heb “therefore”; “even so.” For MT לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) the LXX has an opposite reading, “not so,” which seems to be based on the Hebrew words לֹא כֵן (lo’ khen).
17 tn Heb “we have returned to you.” For another example of שׁוּב אֶל (shuv ’el) in the sense of “give allegiance to,” see 1 Kgs 12:27b.
18 sn Then you will become the leader. The leaders of Gilead now use the word רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “head, leader”), the same term that appeared in their original, general offer (see 10:18). In their initial offer to Jephthah they had simply invited him to be their קָצִין (qatsin, “commander”; v. 6). When he resists they must offer him a more attractive reward – rulership over the region. See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 198.
19 tn Heb “leader of us and all who live in Gilead.”
20 tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotse’, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.
21 tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.
22 tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the
23 tn Heb “Let this thing be done for me.”
24 tn Heb “Leave me alone for two months so I can go and go down on the hills and weep over my virginity – I and my friends.”
25 tn Heb “on him.”
26 tn 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.
27 tn Heb “because she forced him.”
28 tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”
29 tn Heb “on her knees.” The expression is probably euphemistic for sexual intercourse. See HALOT 160-61 s.v. בֶּרֶךְ.
30 tn Heb “she called for a man and she shaved off.” The point seems to be that Delilah acted through the instrumentality of the man. See J. A. Soggin, Judges (OTL), 254.
31 tn Heb “head.” By metonymy the hair of his head is meant.
32 tn Heb “She began to humiliate him.” Rather than referring to some specific insulting action on Delilah’s part after Samson’s hair was shaved off, this statement probably means that she, through the devious actions just described, began the process of Samson’s humiliation which culminates in the following verses.
33 tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.
34 tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
35 tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”
36 tn Heb “What is this you say to me, ‘What to you?’”
37 tn Heb “and he arose to go.”
38 tn Heb “Sustain your heart [with] a bit of food.”
39 tn Heb “And they sat and ate, the two of them together, and they drank.”
40 tn Heb “Be willing and spend the night so that your heart might be good.”
41 tn Or “run away.”
42 tn Heb “him” (collective singular).
43 tn Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”
44 tn Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”