Judges 6:39

6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign.¹ 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.”²

Judges 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret.³ He said to her, “My hair has never been cut,⁴ for I have been dedicated to God⁵ from the time I was conceived.⁶ If my head⁷ were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

Judges 18:1

The Tribe of Dan Finds an Inheritance

18:1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place⁸ to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel.⁹

Judges 19:9

19:9 When the man got ready to leave¹⁰ with his concubine and his servant,¹¹ his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! The day is almost over!¹² Stay another night! Since the day is over,¹³ stay another night here and have a good time. You can get up early tomorrow and start your trip home.”¹⁴

Judges 19:22

19:22 They were having a good time,¹⁵ when suddenly¹⁶ some men of the city, some good-for-nothings,¹⁷ surrounded the house and kept beating¹⁸ on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.”¹⁹

¹tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”

²tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”

³tn Heb “all his heart.”

⁴tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

⁵tn 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”).

⁶tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

⁷tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).

⁸tn Heb “an inheritance.”

⁹tn Heb “because there had not fallen to them by that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel an inheritance.”

¹⁰tn Heb “the man arose to go.”

¹¹tn Or “young man.”

¹²tn Heb “the day is sinking to become evening.”

¹³tn Or “declining.”

¹⁴tn Heb “for your way and go to your tent.”

¹⁵tn Heb “they were making their heart good.”

¹⁶tn Heb “and look.”

¹⁷tn Heb “the men of the city, men, the sons of wickedness.” The phrases are in apposition; the last phrase specifies what type of men they were. It is not certain if all the men of the city are in view, or just a group of troublemakers. In 20:5 the town leaders are implicated in the crime, suggesting that all the men of the city were involved. If so, the implication is that the entire male population of the town were good-for-nothings.

¹⁸tn The Hitpael verb form appears to have an iterative force here, indicating repeated action.

¹⁹tn Heb “so we can know him.” On the surface one might think they simply wanted to meet the visitor and get to know him, but their hostile actions betray their double-talk. The old man, who has been living with them long enough to know what they are like, seems to have no doubts about the meaning of their words (see v. 23).