Judges 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ²  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ³  will die by morning! ⁴  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ⁵  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ⁶ 

Judges 12:9

12:9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, ⁷  and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. ⁸  Ibzan ⁹  led ¹⁰  Israel for seven years;

Judges 19:9

19:9 When the man got ready to leave ¹¹  with his concubine and his servant, ¹²  his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! The day is almost over! ¹³  Stay another night! Since the day is over, ¹⁴  stay another night here and have a good time. You can get up early tomorrow and start your trip home.” ¹⁵ 

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¹ tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

² tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

³ tn Heb “fights for him.”

⁴ sn 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.

⁵ tn Heb “fight for himself.”

⁶ tn 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).

⁷ tn Heb “thirty daughters he sent off outside.” Another option is to translate, “He arranged for his thirty daughters…” It is not clear if he had more than the “thirty daughters” mentioned in the text.

⁸ tn Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”

⁹ tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the man arose to go.”

¹² tn Or “young man.”

¹³ tn Heb “the day is sinking to become evening.”

¹⁴ tn Or “declining.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “for your way and go to your tent.”