Judges 4:5

4:5 She would sit¹ under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel² in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled.³

Judges 9:15

9:15 The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose⁴ me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches!⁵ Otherwise⁶ may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

Judges 11:7-8

11:7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave⁷ my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?” 11:8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true,⁸ but now we pledge to you our loyalty.⁹ Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader¹⁰ of all who live in Gilead.”¹¹

Judges 11:31

11:31 then whoever is the first to come through¹² the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he¹³ will belong to the Lord and¹⁴ I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Judges 12:3

12:3 When I saw that you were not going to help,¹⁵ I risked my life¹⁶ and advanced against¹⁷ the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up¹⁸ to fight with me today?”

Judges 15:10

15:10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking¹⁹ us?” The Philistines²⁰ said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.”

Judges 15:12

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 me²¹ you will not kill²² me.”

Judges 18:9

18:9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them,²³ for²⁴ we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic,²⁵ but don’t hesitate²⁶ to invade and conquer²⁷ the land.

Judges 19:11

19:11 When they got near Jebus, it was getting quite late²⁸ and the servant²⁹ said to his master, “Come on, let’s stop at³⁰ this Jebusite city and spend the night in it.”

Judges 21:8

21:8 So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.³¹

¹tn That is, “consider legal disputes.”

²map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

³tn Heb “for judgment.”

⁴tn Heb “are about to anoint [with oil].”

⁵tn Heb “in my shade.”

⁶tn Heb “If not.”

⁷tn Heb “Did you not hate me and make me leave?”

⁸tn 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).

⁹tn 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.

¹⁰sn 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.

¹¹tn Heb “leader of us and all who live in Gilead.”

¹²tn 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.

¹³tn 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.

¹⁴tn 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 Lord’s service, but if an animal comes through the doors, he will offer it up as a sacrifice. However, it is far more likely that the Hebrew construction (vav [ו] + perfect) specifies how the subject will become the Lord’s, that is, by being offered up as a sacrifice. For similar constructions, where the apodosis of a conditional sentence has at least two perfects (each with vav) in sequence, see Gen 34:15-16; Exod 18:16.

¹⁵tn Heb “you were no deliverer.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX has “no one was helping.”

¹⁶tn Heb “I put my life in my hand.”

¹⁷tn Heb “crossed over to.”

¹⁸tn The Hebrew adds “against me” here. This is redundant in English and has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁹tn Or “come up against.”

²⁰tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²¹tn Or “swear to me.”

²²tn Heb “meet [with hostility]”; “harm.” In light of v. 13, “kill” is an appropriate translation.

²³tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”

²⁴tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”

²⁵tn Heb “But you are inactive.”

²⁶tn Or “be lazy.”

²⁷tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”

²⁸tn Heb “and the day was descending greatly.”

²⁹tn Or “young man.”

³⁰tn Heb “turn aside” (also in the following verse).

³¹tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”