Discovery BoxJudges 9:16 
Context9:16 “Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, 1 if you have properly repaid him 2 –
Judges 11:8
Context11:8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true, 3 but now we pledge to you our loyalty. 4 Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader 5 of all who live in Gilead.” 6
1 tn Heb “house.”
2 tn Heb “if according to the deeds of his hands you have done to him.”
3 tn Heb “therefore”; “even so.” For MT לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) the LXX has an opposite reading, “not so,” which seems to be based on the Hebrew words לֹא כֵן (lo’ khen).
4 tn Heb “we have returned to you.” For another example of שׁוּב אֶל (shuv ’el) in the sense of “give allegiance to,” see 1 Kgs 12:27b.
5 sn Then you will become the leader. The leaders of Gilead now use the word רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “head, leader”), the same term that appeared in their original, general offer (see 10:18). In their initial offer to Jephthah they had simply invited him to be their קָצִין (qatsin, “commander”; v. 6). When he resists they must offer him a more attractive reward – rulership over the region. See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 198.
6 tn Heb “leader of us and all who live in Gilead.”
