Discovery BoxJudges 3:12 
Context3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. 1 The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel 2 because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.
Judges 4:5
Context4:5 She would sit 3 under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel 4 in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled. 5
Judges 6:4
Context6:4 They invaded the land 6 and devoured 7 its crops 8 all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, 9 and they took away 10 the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.
Judges 6:8
Context6:8 he 11 sent a prophet 12 to the Israelites. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt 13 and took you out of that place of slavery. 14
Judges 8:27
Context8:27 Gideon used all this to make 15 an ephod, 16 which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites 17 prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it 18 there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.
Judges 11:33
Context11:33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith – twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! 19 The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites. 20
Judges 19:30
Context19:30 Everyone who saw the sight 21 said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since 22 the Israelites left the land of Egypt! 23 Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”
Judges 20:23
Context20:23 The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we 24 again march out to fight 25 the Benjaminites, our brothers?” 26 The Lord said, “Attack them!” 27
Judges 20:26
Context20:26 So all the Israelites, the whole army, 28 went up to 29 Bethel. 30 They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything 31 that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace 32 to the Lord.
Judges 20:32-33
Context20:32 Then the Benjaminites said, “They are defeated just as before.” But the Israelites said, “Let’s retreat 33 and lure them 34 away from the city into the main roads.” 20:33 35 All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah.
Judges 20:48
Context20:48 The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns 36 and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, 37 the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path. 38
Judges 21:5
Context21:5 The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed. 39
1 tn Heb “in the eyes of the
2 tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”
3 tn That is, “consider legal disputes.”
4 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
5 tn Heb “for judgment.”
6 tn Heb “They encamped against them.”
7 tn Heb “destroyed.”
8 tn Heb “the crops of the land.”
9 tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”
10 tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
11 tn Heb “the
12 tn Heb “a man, a prophet.” Hebrew idiom sometimes puts a generic term before a more specific designation.
13 tc Some ancient witnesses read “from the land of Egypt.” מֵאֶרֶץ (me’erets, “from the land [of]”) could have been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton (note the following מִמִּצְרַיִם [mimmitsrayim, “from Egypt”]).
14 tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”
15 tn Heb “made it into.”
16 sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.
17 tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).
18 tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb “with a very great slaughter.”
20 tn Heb “The Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.”
21 tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
22 tn Heb “from the day.”
23 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the following additional words: “And he instructed the men whom he sent out, ‘Thus you will say to every male Israelite: “There has never been anything like this from the day the Israelites left Egypt till the present day.”’”
24 tn Heb “I” (collective singular).
25 tn Heb “approach for battle.”
26 tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).
27 tn Heb “Go up against him” (collective singular).
28 tn Heb “and all the people.”
29 tn Heb “went up and came [to].”
30 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
31 tn Traditionally, “fasted.”
32 tn Or “peace offerings.”
33 tn Or “run away.”
34 tn Heb “him” (collective singular).
35 sn Verses 33-36a give a condensed account of the battle from this point on, while vv. 36b-48 offer a more detailed version of how the ambush contributed to Gibeah’s defeat.
36 tn Heb “to the sons of Benjamin.”
37 tc The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים (me’ir mÿtim, “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם (me’ir mÿtom, “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).
38 tn Heb “Also all the cities that were found they set on fire.”
39 tn Heb “A great oath there was concerning the one who did not go up before the Lord at Mizpah, saying, ‘He must surely be put to death.’”
