Judges 8:16

8:16 He seized the leaders ¹  of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. ² 

Judges 9:4

9:4 They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous ³  men as his followers. ⁴ 

Judges 15:4

15:4 Samson went and captured three hundred jackals ⁵  and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair. ⁶ 

Judges 17:5

17:5 Now this man Micah owned a shrine. ⁷  He made an ephod ⁸  and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest. ⁹ 

Judges 18:25

18:25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t say another word to us, or some very angry men ¹⁰  will attack you, and you and your family will die.” ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Heb “elders.”

² tc The translation follows the reading of several ancient versions (LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) in assuming the form וַיָּדָשׁ (vayyadash) from the verb דּוֹשׁ (dosh, “thresh”) as in v. 7. The MT reads instead the form וַיֹּדַע (vayyoda’, “make known”), a Hiphil form of יָדַע (yadah). In this case one could translate, “he used them [i.e., the thorns and briers] to teach the men of Succoth a lesson.”

³ tn Heb “empty and reckless.”

⁴ tn Heb “and they followed him.”

⁵ tn Traditionally, “foxes.”

⁶ tn Heb “He turned tail to tail and placed one torch between the two tails in the middle.”

⁷ tn Heb “house of God.”

⁸ sn Here an ephod probably refers to a priestly garment (cf. Exod 28:4-6).

⁹ tn Heb “and he filled the hand of one of his sons and he became his priest.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “bitter in spirit.” This phrase is used in 2 Sam 17:8 of David and his warriors, who are compared to a bear robbed of her cubs.

¹¹ tn Heb “and you will gather up your life and the life of your house.”