Discovery BoxJudges 6:25 
Context6:25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. 1 Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.
Judges 12:9
Context12:9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, 2 and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. 3 Ibzan 4 led 5 Israel for seven years;
Judges 16:13-14
Context16:13 Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair 6 into the fabric on the loom 7 and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.” 16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here, 8 Samson!” 9 He woke up 10 and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.
1 tn Or “Take a bull from your father’s herd, the second one, the one seven years old.” Apparently Gideon would need the bulls to pull down the altar.
2 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.
3 tn Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”
4 tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.
5 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
6 tn Heb “head” (also in the following verse). By metonymy the head is mentioned in the Hebrew text in place of the hair on it.
7 tn Heb “with the web.” For a discussion of how Delilah did this, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 381, and G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 353-54.
8 tn Heb “are upon you.”
9 tc The MT of vv. 13b-14a reads simply, “He said to her, ‘If you weave the seven braids of my head with the web.’ And she fastened with the pin and said to him.” The additional words in the translation, “and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.’ 16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom,” which without doubt represent the original text, are supplied from the ancient Greek version. (In both vv. 13b and 14a the Greek version has “to the wall” after “with the pin,” but this is an interpretive addition that reflects a misunderstanding of ancient weaving equipment. See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 353-54.) The Hebrew textual tradition was accidentally shortened during the copying process. A scribe’s eye jumped from the first instance of “with the web” to the second, causing him to leave out inadvertently the intervening words.
10 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
