Judges 5:15-16

5:15 Issachar’s leaders were with Deborah,

the men of Issachar¹ supported² Barak;

into the valley they were sent under Barak’s command.³

Among the clans of Reuben there was intense⁴ heart searching.⁵

5:16 Why do you remain among the sheepfolds,⁶

listening to the shepherds playing their pipes⁷ for their flocks?⁸

As for the clans of Reuben – there was intense searching of heart.

Judges 5:27

5:27 Between her feet he collapsed,

he fell limp⁹ and was lifeless;¹⁰

between her feet he collapsed and fell limp,

in the spot where he collapsed,

there he fell limp – violently murdered!¹¹

Judges 8:10

8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed.¹²

Judges 8:27

8:27 Gideon used all this to make¹³ an ephod,¹⁴ which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites¹⁵ prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it¹⁶ there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Judges 11:34

11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out¹⁷ to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines.¹⁸ She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

Judges 18:3

18:3 As they approached¹⁹ Micah’s house, they recognized the accent²⁰ of the young Levite. So they stopped²¹ there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?”²²

Judges 19:1

Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited

19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite²³ living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine²⁴ from Bethlehem²⁵ in Judah.

Judges 19:4

19:4 His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay with him for three days, and they ate and drank together, and spent the night there.

Judges 19:15

19:15 They stopped there and decided to spend the night²⁶ in Gibeah. They came into the city and sat down in the town square, but no one invited them to spend the night.²⁷

Judges 19:19

19:19 We have enough straw and grain for our donkeys, and there is enough food and wine for me, your female servant,²⁸ and the young man who is with your servants.²⁹ We lack nothing.”

Judges 20:26

20:26 So all the Israelites, the whole army,³⁰ went up to³¹ Bethel.³² They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything³³ that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace³⁴ to the Lord.

Judges 20:39

20:39 the Israelites counterattacked.³⁵ Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites;³⁶ they struck down³⁷ about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”

Judges 21:19

21:19 However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel³⁸ (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.”

¹tn Heb “Issachar.” The words “the men of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

²tn Or “was true to.”

³tn Heb “at his feet.”

⁴tn Heb “great was.”

⁵tc The great majority of Hebrew mss have “resolves of heart,” but a few mss read “searchings of heart,” which is preferable in light of v. 16.

⁶tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִשְׁפְּתַיִם (mishpÿtayim) is uncertain. Some understand the word to mean “campfires.”

⁷tn Or “whistling.”

⁸tn Heb “listening to the pipe playing for the flocks.”

⁹tn Heb “he fell.” The same Hebrew expression occurs two more times in this verse.

¹⁰tn Heb “and he lay.

¹¹tn Or “dead, murdered.”

¹²tn Heb “About fifteen thousand [in number] were all the ones remaining from the army of the sons of the east. The fallen ones were a hundred and twenty thousand [in number], men drawing the sword.”

¹³tn Heb “made it into.”

¹⁴sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.

¹⁵tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).

¹⁶tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”

¹⁸tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”

¹⁹tn Or “When they were near.”

²⁰tn Heb “voice.” This probably means that “his speech was Judahite [i.e., southern] like their own, not Israelite [i.e., northern]” (R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 263).

²¹tn Heb “turned aside.”

²²tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”

²³tn Heb “a man, a Levite.”

²⁴sn See the note on the word “concubine” in 8:31.

²⁵map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

²⁶tn Heb “they turned aside there to enter to spend the night.”

²⁷tn Heb “and he entered and sat down, and there was no one receiving them into the house to spend the night.”

²⁸tn By calling his concubine the old man’s “female servant,” the Levite emphasizes their dependence on him for shelter.

²⁹tc Some Hebrew mss and ancient witnesses read the singular, “your servant,” which would refer to the Levite. If one retains the plural, then both the Levite and his wife are in view. In either case the pronominal suffix emphasizes their dependence on the old man for shelter.

³⁰tn Heb “and all the people.”

³¹tn Heb “went up and came [to].”

³²map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

³³tn Traditionally, “fasted.”

³⁴tn Or “peace offerings.”

³⁵tn Heb “turned in the battle.”

³⁶tn Heb “And Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel.”

³⁷tn The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³⁸map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.