Discovery BoxJudges 2:1 
Context2:1 The Lord’s angelic messenger 1 went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors. 2 I said, ‘I will never break my agreement 3 with you,
Judges 6:27
Context6:27 So Gideon took ten of his servants 4 and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family 5 and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime. 6
Judges 7:24
Context7:24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. 7 Take control of the fords of the streams 8 all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” 9 When all the Ephraimites had assembled, 10 they took control of the fords 11 all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.
Judges 12:9
Context12:9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, 12 and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. 13 Ibzan 14 led 15 Israel for seven years;
Judges 14:9
Context14:9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned 16 to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass. 17
Judges 14:18
Context14:18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
He said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer, 18
you would not have solved my riddle!”
Judges 16:18
Context16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, 19 she sent for 20 the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me 21 his secret.” 22 So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands.
Judges 18:1
Context18:1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place 23 to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel. 24
Judges 18:7
Context18:7 So the five men journeyed on 25 and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there 26 were living securely, like the Sidonians do, 27 undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. 28 They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 29
Judges 18:14
Context18:14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish 30 said to their kinsmen, 31 “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”
Judges 18:17
Context18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole 32 the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. 33
Judges 19:18
Context19:18 The Levite 34 said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem 35 in Judah to the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. That’s where I’m from. I had business in Bethlehem in Judah, but now I’m heading home. 36 But no one has invited me into their home.
Judges 20:31
Context20:31 The Benjaminites attacked 37 the army, leaving the city unguarded. 38 They began to strike down their enemy 39 just as they had done before. On the main roads (one leads to Bethel, 40 the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down 41 about thirty Israelites.
Judges 21:22
Context21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, 42 we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, 43 for we could not get each one a wife through battle. 44 Don’t worry about breaking your oath! 45 You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” 46
1 sn See Exod 14:19; 23:20.
2 tn Heb “the land that I had sworn to your fathers.”
3 tn Or “covenant” (also in the following verse).
4 tn Heb “men from among his servants.”
5 tn Heb “house.”
6 tn Heb “so he did it at night.”
7 tn Heb “to meet Midian.”
8 tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”
9 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).
10 tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”
11 tn Heb “they captured the waters.”
12 tn Heb “thirty daughters he sent off outside.” Another option is to translate, “He arranged for his thirty daughters…” It is not clear if he had more than the “thirty daughters” mentioned in the text.
13 tn Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”
14 tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.
15 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
16 tn Heb “went.” Samson apparently went home to his parents before going to Timnah for the marriage. Seeing and tasting the honey appears to encourage Manoah to go with his son to Timnah. Perhaps both Samson and his father viewed the honey as a good omen of future blessing. Possibly Samson considered it a symbol of sexual pleasure or an aphrodisiac. Note the use of honey imagery in Song 4:11 and 5:1.
17 sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6.
18 sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.
19 tn Heb “all his heart.”
20 tn Heb “she sent and summoned.”
21 tc The translation follows the Qere, לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the Kethib, לָהּ (lah, “to her”).
22 tn Heb “all his heart.”
23 tn Heb “an inheritance.”
24 tn Heb “because there had not fallen to them by that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel an inheritance.”
25 tn Or “went.”
26 tn Heb “who were in its midst.”
27 tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”
28 tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”
29 tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.
30 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX lacks the phrase “of Laish.”
31 tn Heb “brothers.”
32 tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”
33 tn Heb “six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war.”
34 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
35 map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.
36 tn Heb “I went to Bethlehem in Judah, but [to] the house of the LORD I am going.” The Hebrew text has “house of the LORD,” which might refer to the shrine at Shiloh. The LXX reads “to my house.”
37 tn Heb “went out to meet.”
38 tn Heb “and they were drawn away from the city.”
39 tn Heb “from the army wounded ones.”
40 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
41 tn The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
42 tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”
43 tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
44 tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”
sn Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.
45 tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.
46 tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.
