Discovery BoxJudges 1:14 
Context1:14 One time Acsah 1 came and charmed her father 2 so she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”
Judges 4:11
Context4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away 3 from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He lived 4 near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
Judges 6:32
Context6:32 That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, 5 because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”
Judges 9:5
Context9:5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, 6 the seventy legitimate 7 sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, 8 because he hid.
Judges 11:7
Context11:7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave 9 my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”
Judges 11:36-37
Context11:36 She said to him, “My father, since 10 you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. 11 After all, the Lord vindicated you before 12 your enemies, the Ammonites.” 11:37 She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. 13 For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.” 14
Judges 11:39
Context11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. 15 Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. 16
Judges 14:4
Context14:4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, 17 because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines 18 (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel).
Judges 14:6
Context14:6 The Lord’s spirit empowered 19 him and he tore the lion 20 in two with his bare hands 21 as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
Judges 15:2
Context15:2 Her father said, “I really thought 22 you absolutely despised 23 her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” 24
Judges 16:31
Context16:31 His brothers and all his family 25 went down and brought him back. 26 They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led 27 Israel for twenty years.
Judges 19:5-6
Context19:5 On the fourth day they woke up early and the Levite got ready to leave. 28 But the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have a bite to eat for some energy, 29 then you can go.” 19:6 So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. 30 Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!” 31
Judges 19:8
Context19:8 He woke up early in the morning on the fifth day so he could leave, but the girl’s father said, “Get some energy. 32 Wait until later in the day to leave!” 33 So they ate a meal together.
1 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “him.” The pronoun could refer to Othniel, in which case one would translate, “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Acsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 15. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18 // Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. The translation takes Caleb to be the referent, specified as “her father.”
3 tn Or “separated.”
4 tn Heb “pitched his tent.”
5 tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub-Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight!”
6 tn Heb “his brothers.”
7 tn The word “legitimate” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tn Heb “remained.”
9 tn Heb “Did you not hate me and make me leave?”
10 tn The conjunction “since” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
11 tn Heb “you opened your mouth to the
12 tn Or “has given you vengeance against.”
13 tn Heb “Let this thing be done for me.”
14 tn Heb “Leave me alone for two months so I can go and go down on the hills and weep over my virginity – I and my friends.”
15 tn Heb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302-3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.
16 tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”
17 tn Heb “this was from the LORD.”
18 tn Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.”
19 tn Heb “rushed on.”
20 tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”
22 tn Heb “saying, I said.” The first person form of אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) sometimes indicates self-reflection. The girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.
23 tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.
24 tn Heb “Is her younger sister not better than her? Let her [i.e., the younger sister] be yours instead of her [i.e., Samson’s ‘bride’]).”
25 tn Heb “and all the house of his father.”
26 tn Heb “and lifted him up and brought up.”
27 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
28 tn Heb “and he arose to go.”
29 tn Heb “Sustain your heart [with] a bit of food.”
30 tn Heb “And they sat and ate, the two of them together, and they drank.”
31 tn Heb “Be willing and spend the night so that your heart might be good.”
32 tn Heb “Sustain your heart.” He is once more inviting him to stay for a meal.
33 tn Heb “Wait until the declining of the day.”
