¹ tn Heb “In the year the commanding general came to Ashdod, when Sargon king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and captured it.”

² tn The second description is simply “[is] short of days.” The meaning here is that his life is short (“days” being put as the understatement for “years”).

² sn The first year of Cyrus would be ca. 539 b.c. Cyrus reigned in Persia from ca. 539-530 b.c.

¹ sn The first year of Cyrus would be ca. 539 b.c. Cyrus reigned in Persia from ca. 539-530 b.c.

¹ tn Heb “for by the final words of David, they were the number of the sons of Levi, from a son of twenty years and upward.”

¹ tn Heb “and it was at the time of the turning of the year, at the time of the going out of kings.”

² sn This would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).

³ sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.” The Old Greek also has these words: “in the twenty-eighth year of Jeroboam.”

¹ tn Heb “And the number of the days in which David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.”

³ tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”

³ tc The LXX begins the verse differently, “granting the prayer to the one who prays; he blessed the years of the righteous.”

² tn The phrase שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה (sh^emoneh ʿesreh shanah) could be translated “eighteen years,” but this would be difficult after the reference to “that year.” It is possible that v. 8b is parenthetical, referring to an eighteen year long period of oppression east of the Jordan which culminated in hostilities against all Israel (including Judah, see v. 9) in the eighteenth year. It is simpler to translate the phrase as an ordinal number, though the context does not provide the point of reference. (See Gen 14:4-5 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 191-92.) In this case, the following statement specifies which “Israelites” are in view.

¹ tn Heb “like the days which you lived.” This refers to the rest of the forty-year period in the desert before Israel arrived in Moab.

³ sn The fortieth year would be 1406 b.c. according to the “early” date of the exodus. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 66-75.

¹ tn Heb “from the year of the jubilee.” For the meaning of “jubilee,” see the note on Lev 25:10 above.

³ tn Heb “a number of produce”; the words “years of” are implied. As an alternative this could be translated “a number of harvests” (cf. NRSV, NLT).

² tn Heb “and a calf and a lamb, sons of a year, flawless”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “without blemish”; NASB, NIV “without defect”; NLT “with no physical defects.”

¹ sn Deborah. This woman had been Rebekah’s nurse, but later attached herself to Jacob. She must have been about 180 years old when she died.

³ tn Heb “and we will give to you also this one in exchange for labor which you will work with me, still seven other years.”