Discovery BoxJudges 11:2 
Context11:2 Gilead’s wife also gave 1 him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth, 2 because you are another woman’s son.”
Judges 15:6
Context15:6 The Philistines asked, 3 “Who did this?” They were told, 4 “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite 5 took Samson’s 6 bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. 7
Judges 17:3
Context17:3 When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate 8 this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” 9
1 tn Heb “bore.”
2 tn Heb “in the house of our father.”
3 tn Or “said.”
4 tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn The Hebrew text expands the statement with the additional phrase “burned with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons. Some textual witnesses read “burned…her father’s house,” perhaps under the influence of 14:15. On the other hand, the shorter text may have lost this phrase due to haplography.
8 tn Heb “dedicating, I dedicate.” In this case the emphatic infinitive absolute lends a mood of solemnity to the statement.
9 tn Heb “to the LORD from my hand for my son to make a carved image and cast metal image.” She cannot mean that she is now taking the money from her hand and giving it back to her son so he can make an image. Verses 4-6 indicate she took back the money and used a portion of it to hire a silversmith to make an idol for her son to use. The phrase “a carved image and cast metal image” is best taken as referring to two idols (see 18:17-18), even though the verb at the end of v. 4, וַיְהִי (vayÿhi, “and it was [in the house of Micah]”), is singular.
