Discovery BoxJudges 3:20 
Context3:20 When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated 1 upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God 2 for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat, 3
Judges 5:28
Context5:28 Through the window she looked;
Sisera’s mother cried out through the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so slow to return?
Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot-horses 4 delayed?’
Judges 8:27
Context8:27 Gideon used all this to make 5 an ephod, 6 which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites 7 prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it 8 there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.
Judges 9:1
Context9:1 Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. 9 He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, 10
Judges 9:5
Context9:5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, 11 the seventy legitimate 12 sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, 13 because he hid.
Judges 11:34
Context11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out 14 to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. 15 She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.
Judges 14:6
Context14:6 The Lord’s spirit empowered 16 him and he tore the lion 17 in two with his bare hands 18 as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
Judges 15:14
Context15:14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered 19 him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in 20 fire, and they 21 melted away from his hands.
Judges 16:19
Context16:19 She made him go to sleep on her lap 22 and then called a man in to shave off 23 the seven braids of his hair. 24 She made him vulnerable 25 and his strength left him.
Judges 16:29-30
Context16:29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple 26 and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. 16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard 27 and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. 28
1 tn Or “cool.” This probably refers to a room with latticed windows which allowed the breeze to pass through. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 144.
2 tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”
3 tn Or “throne.”
4 tn Heb “chariots.”
5 tn Heb “made it into.”
6 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.
7 tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).
8 tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “brothers.”
10 tn Heb “to all the extended family of the house of the father of his mother.”
11 tn Heb “his brothers.”
12 tn The word “legitimate” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.
13 tn Heb “remained.”
14 tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”
15 tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”
16 tn Heb “rushed on.”
17 tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”
19 tn Heb “rushed on.”
20 tn Heb “burned with.”
21 tn Heb “his bonds.”
22 tn Heb “on her knees.” The expression is probably euphemistic for sexual intercourse. See HALOT 160-61 s.v. בֶּרֶךְ.
23 tn Heb “she called for a man and she shaved off.” The point seems to be that Delilah acted through the instrumentality of the man. See J. A. Soggin, Judges (OTL), 254.
24 tn Heb “head.” By metonymy the hair of his head is meant.
25 tn Heb “She began to humiliate him.” Rather than referring to some specific insulting action on Delilah’s part after Samson’s hair was shaved off, this statement probably means that she, through the devious actions just described, began the process of Samson’s humiliation which culminates in the following verses.
26 tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house was founded.”
27 tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”
28 tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”
