Judges 4:22

4:22 Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, “Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.” He went with her into the tent, ¹  and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead ²  with the tent peg in his temple.

Judges 5:11

5:11 Hear ³  the sound of those who divide the sheep ⁴  among the watering places;

there they tell of ⁵  the Lord’s victorious deeds,

the victorious deeds of his warriors ⁶  in Israel.

Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –

Judges 5:23

5:23 ‘Call judgment down on ⁷  Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic ⁸  messenger;

‘Be sure ⁹  to call judgment down on ¹⁰  those who live there,

because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, ¹¹ 

to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ ¹² 

Judges 6:37

6:37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it ¹³  is dry, then I will be sure ¹⁴  that you will use me to deliver Israel, ¹⁵  as you promised.”

Judges 7:4

7:4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. ¹⁶  Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. ¹⁷  When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; ¹⁸  when I say, ¹⁹  ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” ²⁰ 

Judges 9:51

9:51 There was a fortified ²¹  tower ²²  in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city’s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower.

Judges 12:6

12:6 then they said to him, “Say ‘Shibboleth!’” ²³  If he said, “Sibboleth” (and could not pronounce the word ²⁴  correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead.

Judges 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ²⁵  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ²⁶  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ²⁷  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ²⁸  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ²⁹ 

Judges 19:27

19:27 When her master ³⁰  got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

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¹ tn Heb “he went to her.”

² tn Heb “fallen, dead.”

³ tn The word “Hear” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. Some translate “those who distribute the water” (HALOT 344 s.v. חצץ pi). For other options see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 246-47.

⁵ tn Or perhaps “repeat.”

⁶ tn See the note on the term “warriors” in v. 7.

⁷ tn Heb “Curse Meroz.”

⁸ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

⁹ tn Heb “Curse, cursing.” The Hebrew construction is emphatic.

¹⁰ tn Heb “[to] curse.”

¹¹ tn Heb “to the help of the Lord” (the same Hebrew phrase occurs in the following line). Another option is to read “to aid the Lord’s cause.”

¹² tn Or “along with the other warriors.”

¹³ tn Heb “all the ground.”

¹⁴ tn Or “know.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “too many people.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “test them for you there.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “he should go with you.”

¹⁹ tn Heb also has “to you.”

²⁰ tn Heb “he should not go.”

²¹ tn Or “strong.”

²² tn Or “fortress.” The same Hebrew term occurs once more in this verse and twice in v. 52.

²³ sn The inability of the Ephraimites to pronounce the word shibboleth the way the Gileadites did served as an identifying test. It illustrates that during this period there were differences in pronunciation between the tribes. The Hebrew word shibboleth itself means “stream” or “flood,” and was apparently chosen simply as a test case without regard to its meaning.

²⁴ tn Heb “and could not prepare to speak.” The precise meaning of יָכִין (yakhin) is unclear. Some understand it to mean “was not careful [to say it correctly]”; others emend to יָכֹל (yakhol, “was not able [to say it correctly]”) or יָבִין (yavin, “did not understand [that he should say it correctly]”), which is read by a few Hebrew mss.

²⁵ tn Or “went.”

²⁶ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

²⁷ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

²⁸ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

²⁹ tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.

³⁰ tn The Hebrew term here translated “master,” is plural. The plural indicates degree here and emphasizes the Levite’s absolute sovereignty over the woman.