10:1 After Abimelech’s death, 4 Tola son of Puah, grandson 5 of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar, 6 rose up to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraimite hill country.
12:2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. 7 I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. 8
1 tn Heb “you.” The Hebrew pronoun is masculine plural, probably referring to the entire army.
2 tn The Hebrew pronoun here is singular.
3 tn Heb “All the people should go, each to his place.”
4 tn The word “death” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn Heb “son.”
6 tn Heb “a man of Issachar.”
7 tn Heb A man of great strife I was and my people and the Ammonites.”
8 tn Heb “hand.”
9 tn Another option is to translate, “you are already pregnant and will have a son.” The earlier reference to her being infertile (v. 3) suggests that her conception is still future, but it is possible that the earlier statement only reflects her perspective (as far as she is concerned, she is infertile). According to this interpretation, in v. 5 the angel reveals the truth to her – actually she has recently conceived and is now pregnant (see the translation in R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 217). Usage favors this interpretation. The predicate adjective הָרָה (harah, “[be/become] pregnant”) elsewhere has a past (1 Sam 4:19) or present (Gen 16:11; 38:25; 2 Sam 11:5) translation value. (The usage in Isa 7:14 is debated, but a present translation is definitely possible there.) A final, but less likely possibility, is that she miraculously conceived during the angel’s speech, sometime between his statements recorded in vv. 3 and 5.
10 tn Heb “a razor should not go up on his head.”
11 tn 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”).
12 tn Heb “hand.”