Judges 6:7

6:7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help because of Midian,

Judges 13:22

13:22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen a supernatural being!” ¹ 

Judges 21:15

21:15 The people regretted what had happened to ²  Benjamin because the Lord had weakened ³  the Israelite tribes.

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¹ tn Or “seen God.” Some take the Hebrew term אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) as the divine name (“God”) here, but this seems unlikely since v. 21 informs us that Manoah realized this was the Lord’s messenger, not God himself. Of course, he may be exaggerating for the sake of emphasis. Another option, the one followed in the translation, understands Manoah to be referring to a lesser deity. The term אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is sometimes used of an individual deity other than the Lord (see BDB 43 s.v. 2.a). One cannot assume that Manoah was a theologically sophisticated monotheist.

² tn Or “felt sorry for.”

³ tn Heb “had made a gaping hole in.” The narrator uses imagery that compares Israel to a wall that has been breached.