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 5:23

5:23 ‘Call judgment down on ³  Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic ⁴  messenger;

‘Be sure ⁵  to call judgment down on ⁶  those who live there,

because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, ⁷ 

to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ ⁸ 

Judges 8:21

8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ⁹  “Come on, ¹⁰  you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” ¹¹  So Gideon killed ¹²  Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

Judges 16:2

16:2 The Gazites were told, ¹³  “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town ¹⁴  and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. ¹⁵  They relaxed ¹⁶  all night, thinking, ¹⁷  “He will not leave ¹⁸  until morning comes; ¹⁹  then we will kill him!”

Judges 16:18

16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, ²⁰  she sent for ²¹  the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me ²²  his secret.” ²³  So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands.

Judges 18:19

18:19 They said to him, “Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser ²⁴  and priest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?” ²⁵ 

Judges 21:22

21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, ²⁶  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ²⁷  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ²⁸  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ²⁹  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ³⁰ 

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¹ tn Heb “he went to her.”

² tn Heb “fallen, dead.”

³ tn Heb “Curse Meroz.”

⁴ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

⁵ tn Heb “Curse, cursing.” The Hebrew construction is emphatic.

⁶ tn Heb “[to] curse.”

⁷ 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.”

⁸ tn Or “along with the other warriors.”

⁹ tn The words “to Gideon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁰ tn Or “Arise.”

¹¹ tn Heb “for as the man is his strength.”

¹² tn Heb “arose and killed.”

¹³ tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “were silent.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “saying.”

¹⁸ tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁹ tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

²⁰ tn Heb “all his heart.”

²¹ tn Heb “she sent and summoned.”

²² tc The translation follows the Qere, לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the Kethib, לָהּ (lah, “to her”).

²³ tn Heb “all his heart.”

²⁴ tn See the note on the word “adviser” in 17:10.

²⁵ tn Heb “Is it better for you to be priest for the house of one man or for you to be priest for a tribe, for a clan in Israel?”

²⁶ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

²⁷ tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

²⁸ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

sn Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.

²⁹ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

³⁰ tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.