Discovery BoxJudges 1:2 
Context1:2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. 1 Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.” 2
Judges 1:4
Context1:4 The men of Judah attacked, 3 and the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek.
Judges 2:10
Context2:10 That entire generation passed away; 4 a new generation grew up 5 that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel. 6
Judges 2:15
Context2:15 Whenever they went out to fight, 7 the Lord did them harm, 8 just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. 9 They suffered greatly. 10
Judges 2:20
Context2:20 The Lord was furious with Israel. 11 He said, “This nation 12 has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors 13 by disobeying me. 14
Judges 2:23
Context2:23 This is why 15 the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; 16 he did not hand them over to Joshua.
Judges 3:4
Context3:4 They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses. 17
Judges 4:2
Context4:2 The Lord turned them over to 18 King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. 19 The general of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. 20
Judges 4:15
Context4:15 The Lord routed 21 Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. 22 Sisera jumped out of 23 his chariot and ran away on foot.
Judges 5:4
Context5:4 O Lord, when you departed 24 from Seir,
when you marched from Edom’s plains,
the earth shook, the heavens poured down,
the clouds poured down rain. 25
Judges 5:9
Context5:9 My heart went out 26 to Israel’s leaders,
to the people who answered the call to war.
Praise the Lord!
Judges 6:14-15
Context6:14 Then the Lord himself 27 turned to him and said, “You have the strength. 28 Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! 29 Have I not sent you?” 6:15 Gideon 30 said to him, “But Lord, 31 how 32 can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” 33
Judges 6:18
Context6:18 Do not leave this place until I come back 34 with a gift 35 and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.”
Judges 6:38
Context6:38 The Lord did as he asked. 36 When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl. 37
Judges 7:2
Context7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. 38 Israel might brag, 39 ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ 40
Judges 7:18
Context7:18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”
Judges 8:7
Context8:7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, 41 after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh 42 your skin 43 with 44 desert thorns and briers.”
Judges 8:23
Context8:23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”
Judges 8:34
Context8:34 The Israelites did not remain true 45 to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them.
Judges 10:10
Context10:10 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: “We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped 46 the Baals.”
Judges 10:15
Context10:15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, 47 but deliver us today!” 48
Judges 11:10-11
Context11:10 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will judge any grievance you have against us, 49 if we do not do as you say.” 50 11:11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement 51 before the Lord in Mizpah.
Judges 11:23
Context11:23 Since 52 the Lord God of Israel has driven out 53 the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? 54
Judges 11:27
Context11:27 I have not done you wrong, 55 but you are doing wrong 56 by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!’”
Judges 11:29
Context11:29 The Lord’s spirit empowered 57 Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went 58 to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. 59
Judges 13:3
Context13:3 The Lord’s angelic 60 messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You 61 are infertile and childless, 62 but you will conceive and have a son.
Judges 13:15
Context13:15 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Please stay here awhile, 63 so we can prepare a young goat for you to eat.” 64
Judges 13:17
Context13:17 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Tell us your name, so we can honor you when your announcement comes true.” 65
Judges 13:24
Context13:24 Manoah’s wife 66 gave birth to a son and named him Samson. 67 The child grew and the Lord empowered 68 him.
Judges 20:1
Context20:1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba 69 and from the land of Gilead 70 left their homes 71 and assembled together 72 before the Lord at Mizpah.
Judges 20:18
Context20:18 The Israelites went up to Bethel 73 and asked God, 74 “Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?” 75 The Lord said, “Judah should lead.”
Judges 21:3
Context21:3 They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire 76 tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”
1 tn Heb “Judah should go up.”
2 tn The Hebrew exclamation הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally, “Behold”), translated “Be sure of this,” draws attention to the following statement. The verb form in the following statement (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the
3 tn Heb “Judah went up.”
4 tn Heb “All that generation were gathered to their fathers.”
5 tn Heb “arose after them.”
6 tn Heb “that did not know the
7 tn The expression “to fight” is interpretive.
8 tn Heb “the
9 tn Heb “just as he had said and just as he had sworn to them.”
10 tn Or “they experienced great distress.”
11 tn Or “The
12 tn Heb “Because this nation.”
13 tn Heb “my covenant which I commanded their fathers.”
14 tn Heb “and has not listened to my voice.” The expression “to not listen to [God’s] voice” is idiomatic here for disobeying him.
15 tn The words “this is why” are interpretive.
16 tn Or “quickly.”
17 tn Heb “to know if they would hear the commands of the
18 tn Heb “the
19 tn Or “King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite ruler.”
map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.
20 tn Or “Harosheth of the Pagan Nations”; cf. KJV “Harosheth of the Gentiles.”
21 tn Or “caused to panic.”
22 tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “before Barak.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
23 tn Heb “got down from.”
24 tn Or “went out.”
25 tn Heb “water.”
26 tn The words “went out” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
27 sn Some interpreters equate the
28 tn Heb “Go in this strength of yours.”
29 tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”
30 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn Note the switch to אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). Gideon seems aware that he is speaking to someone other than, and superior to, the messenger, whom he addressed as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”) in v. 13.
32 tn Heb “with what.”
33 tn Heb “in my father’s house.”
34 tn The Hebrew text adds “to you,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
35 tn Heb “and I will bring out my gift.” The precise nuance of the Hebrew word מִנְחָה (minkhah, “gift”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a gift offered as a sign of goodwill or submission. In some cases it is used of a gift offered to appease someone whom the offerer has offended. The word can also carry a sacrificial connotation.
36 tn Heb “And it was so.”
37 tn Heb “dew dripped from the fleece – a bowl full of water.”
38 tn Heb “the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand.”
39 tn Heb “might glorify itself against me.”
40 tn Heb “my hand has delivered me.”
41 tn Heb “Therefore.”
42 sn I will thresh. The metaphor is agricultural. Threshing was usually done on a hard threshing floor. As farm animals walked over the stalks, pulling behind them a board embedded with sharp stones, the stalks and grain would be separated. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63-65. Gideon threatens to use thorns and briers on his sledge.
43 tn Or “flesh.”
44 tn This is apparently a rare instrumental use of the Hebrew preposition אֵת (’et, note the use of ב [bet] in v. 16). Some, however, argue that אֵת more naturally indicates accompaniment (“together with”). In this case Gideon envisions threshing their skin along with thorns and briers, just as the stalks and grain are intermingled on the threshing floor. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 229-30.
45 tn Heb “remember.”
46 tn Or “served”; or “followed.”
47 tn Heb “according to all whatever is good in your eyes.”
48 sn You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today. The request seems contradictory, but it can be explained in one of two ways. They may be asking for relief from their enemies and direct discipline from God’s hand. Or they may mean, “In the future you can do whatever you like to us, but give us relief from what we’re suffering right now.”
49 tn Heb “The
50 sn The
51 tn Heb “spoke all his words.” This probably refers to the “words” recorded in v. 9. Jephthah repeats the terms of the agreement at the
52 tn Heb “Now.”
53 tn Or “dispossessed.”
54 tn Heb “will you dispossess him [i.e., Israel; or possibly “it,” i.e., the territory]?” There is no interrogative marker in the Hebrew text.
55 tn Or “sinned against you.”
56 tn Or “evil.”
57 tn Heb “was on.”
58 tn Heb “passed through.”
59 tn Heb “From Mizpah in Gilead he passed through [to] the Ammonites.”
60 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive (also in vv. 6, 9).
61 tn Heb “Look, you.”
62 tn Heb “and have not given birth.”
63 tn Heb “Please allow us to detain you.”
64 tn Heb “so we can prepare before you a young goat of the goats.”
65 tn Heb “Who your name? For [when] your word comes [to pass], we will honor you.” Manoah apparently gets tongue-tied and uses the wrong pronoun (“who” instead of “what”). He starts to say, “Who are you?” But then he switches to “your name” as if he began the sentence with “what.” See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 222.
66 tn Heb “the woman.” For clarity this has been specified in the translation as “Manoah’s wife.”
67 tn The name appears to mean “sun-like” or “solar.”
68 tn Traditionally, “blessed.”
69 sn Dan was located in the far north of the country, while Beer Sheba was located in the far south. This encompassed all the territory of the land of Canaan occupied by the Israelites.
70 sn The land of Gilead was on the eastern side of the Jordan River.
71 tn Heb “went out.”
72 tn Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”
73 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
74 tn Heb “They arose and went up to Bethel and asked God, and the Israelites said.”
75 tn Heb “Who should go up for us first for battle against the sons of Benjamin?”
76 tn Heb “one.”
