Judges 4:6

4:6 She summoned¹ Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “Is it not true that the Lord God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun!

Judges 6:26

6:26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern.² Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.”

Judges 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him,³ “Must you fight Baal’s battles?⁴ Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause⁵ will die by morning!⁶ If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles!⁷ After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.”⁸

Judges 6:39

6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign.⁹ Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.”¹⁰

Judges 13:7

13:7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son.¹¹ So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean.¹² For the child will be dedicated¹³ to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

Judges 15:19

15:19 So God split open the basin¹⁴ at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength¹⁵ was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring¹⁶ En Hakkore.¹⁷ It remains in Lehi to this very day.

Judges 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret.¹⁸ He said to her, “My hair has never been cut,¹⁹ for I have been dedicated to God²⁰ from the time I was conceived.²¹ If my head²² were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

¹tn Heb “sent and summoned.”

²tn Possibly “in a row” or “in a layer,” perhaps referring to the arrangement of the stones used in the altar’s construction.

³tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

⁴tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

⁵tn Heb “fights for him.”

⁶sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.

⁷tn Heb “fight for himself.”

⁸tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).

⁹tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”

¹⁰tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”

¹¹tn See the note on the word “son” in 13:5, where this same statement occurs.

¹²tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”

¹³tn Traditionally “a Nazirite.”

¹⁴tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface.

¹⁵tn Heb “spirit.”

¹⁶tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.”

¹⁸tn Heb “all his heart.”

¹⁹tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

²⁰tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

²¹tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

²²tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).