Discovery BoxJudges 1:3 
Context1:3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon, 1 “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites. 2 Then we 3 will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them.
Judges 4:21
Context4:21 Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. 4 She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground 5 while he was asleep from exhaustion, 6 and he died.
Judges 5:11
Context5:11 Hear 7 the sound of those who divide the sheep 8 among the watering places;
there they tell of 9 the Lord’s victorious deeds,
the victorious deeds of his warriors 10 in Israel.
Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –
Judges 6:26
Context6:26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. 11 Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.”
Judges 6:37
Context6:37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it 12 is dry, then I will be sure 13 that you will use me to deliver Israel, 14 as you promised.”
Judges 9:51
Context9:51 There was a fortified 15 tower 16 in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city’s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower.
Judges 11:18
Context11:18 Then Israel 17 went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; 18 they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab’s border).
Judges 12:6
Context12:6 then they said to him, “Say ‘Shibboleth!’” 19 If he said, “Sibboleth” (and could not pronounce the word 20 correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead.
Judges 16:2-3
Context16:2 The Gazites were told, 21 “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town 22 and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. 23 They relaxed 24 all night, thinking, 25 “He will not leave 26 until morning comes; 27 then we will kill him!” 16:3 Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. 28 He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. 29 He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron. 30
Judges 16:9
Context16:9 They hid 31 in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, 32 Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. 33 The secret of his strength was not discovered. 34
Judges 19:16
Context19:16 But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. 35 The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.) 36
Judges 21:21
Context21:21 and keep your eyes open. 37 When you see 38 the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, 39 jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin.
1 tn Heb “Judah said to Simeon, his brother.”
2 tn Heb “Come up with me into our allotted land and let us attack the Canaanites.”
3 tn Heb “I.” The Hebrew pronoun is singular, agreeing with the collective singular “Judah” earlier in the verse. English style requires a plural pronoun here, however.
4 tn Heb “took a tent peg and put a hammer in her hand.”
5 tn Heb “and it went into the ground.”
6 tn Heb “and exhausted.” Another option is to understand this as a reference to the result of the fatal blow. In this case, the phrase could be translated, “and he breathed his last.”
7 tn The word “Hear” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
8 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. Some translate “those who distribute the water” (HALOT 344 s.v. חצץ pi). For other options see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 246-47.
9 tn Or perhaps “repeat.”
10 tn See the note on the term “warriors” in v. 7.
11 tn Possibly “in a row” or “in a layer,” perhaps referring to the arrangement of the stones used in the altar’s construction.
12 tn Heb “all the ground.”
13 tn Or “know.”
14 tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”
15 tn Or “strong.”
16 tn Or “fortress.” The same Hebrew term occurs once more in this verse and twice in v. 52.
17 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel; the pronoun in the Hebrew text represents a collective singular) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
19 sn The inability of the Ephraimites to pronounce the word shibboleth the way the Gileadites did served as an identifying test. It illustrates that during this period there were differences in pronunciation between the tribes. The Hebrew word shibboleth itself means “stream” or “flood,” and was apparently chosen simply as a test case without regard to its meaning.
20 tn Heb “and could not prepare to speak.” The precise meaning of יָכִין (yakhin) is unclear. Some understand it to mean “was not careful [to say it correctly]”; others emend to יָכֹל (yakhol, “was not able [to say it correctly]”) or יָבִין (yavin, “did not understand [that he should say it correctly]”), which is read by a few Hebrew
21 tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”
22 tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.
23 tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”
24 tn Heb “were silent.”
25 tn Heb “saying.”
26 tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
27 tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”
28 tn Heb “And Samson lay until the middle of the night and arose in the middle of the night.”
29 tn Heb “with the bar.”
30 tn Heb “which is upon the face of Hebron.”
31 tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting for her.” The grammatically singular form וְהָאֹרֵב (vÿha’orev) is collective here, referring to the rulers as a group (so also in v. 16).
32 tn Heb “are upon you.”
33 tn Heb “when it smells fire.”
34 tn Heb “His strength was not known.”
35 tn Heb “And look, an old man was coming from his work, from the field in the evening.”
36 tn Heb “And the men of the place were Benjaminites.”
37 tn Heb “and look.”
38 tn Heb “and look, when.”
39 tn Heb “in the dances.”
