Bible Reading March 11 
Judges 16:1--18:31
Context16:1 Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went in to have sex with her. 1 16:2 The Gazites were told, 2 “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town 3 and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. 4 They relaxed 5 all night, thinking, 6 “He will not leave 7 until morning comes; 8 then we will kill him!” 16:3 Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. 9 He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. 10 He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron. 11
16:4 After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. 16:5 The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, “Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate 12 him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces.”
16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.” 13 16:7 Samson said to her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh 14 bowstrings 15 that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 16:8 So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and they tied him up with them. 16:9 They hid 16 in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, 17 Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. 18 The secret of his strength was not discovered. 19
16:10 Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you deceived 20 me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.” 16:11 He said to her, “If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, 21 I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 16:12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, 22 Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) 23 But he tore the ropes 24 from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.
16:13 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 25 into the fabric on the loom 26 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, 27 Samson!” 28 He woke up 29 and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.
16:15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? 30 Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.” 16:16 She nagged him 31 every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. 32 16:17 Finally he told her his secret. 33 He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, 34 for I have been dedicated to God 35 from the time I was conceived. 36 If my head 37 were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.” 16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, 38 she sent for 39 the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me 40 his secret.” 41 So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. 16:19 She made him go to sleep on her lap 42 and then called a man in to shave off 43 the seven braids of his hair. 44 She made him vulnerable 45 and his strength left him. 16:20 She said, “The Philistines are here, 46 Samson!” He woke up 47 and thought, 48 “I will do as I did before 49 and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the Lord had left him. 16:21 The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison. 16:22 His hair 50 began to grow back after it had been shaved off.
16:23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.” 16:24 When the people saw him, 51 they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!” 52
16:25 When they really started celebrating, 53 they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. 54 They made him stand between two pillars. 16:26 Samson said to the young man who held his hand, “Position me so I can touch the pillars that support the temple. 55 Then I can lean on them.” 16:27 Now the temple 56 was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain. 16:28 Samson called to the Lord, “O Master, Lord, 57 remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge 58 against the Philistines for my two eyes!” 16:29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple 59 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 60 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. 61 16:31 His brothers and all his family 62 went down and brought him back. 63 They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led 64 Israel for twenty years.
17:1 There was a man named Micah from the Ephraimite hill country. 17:2 He said to his mother, “You know 65 the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen 66 from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole 67 it, but now I am giving it back to you.” 68 His mother said, “May the Lord reward 69 you, my son!” 17:3 When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate 70 this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” 71 17:4 When he gave the silver back to his mother, she 72 took two hundred pieces of silver 73 to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. 74 17:5 Now this man Micah owned a shrine. 75 He made an ephod 76 and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest. 77 17:6 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right. 78
17:7 There was a young man from Bethlehem 79 in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah. 80 17:8 This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah’s house. 81 17:9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a new place to live.” 82 17:10 Micah said to him, “Stay with me. Become my adviser 83 and priest. I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, plus clothes and food.” 84 17:11 So the Levite agreed to stay with the man; the young man was like a son to Micah. 85 17:12 Micah paid 86 the Levite; the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house. 17:13 Micah said, “Now I know God will make me rich, 87 because I have this Levite as my priest.”
18:1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place 88 to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel. 89 18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, 90 capable men 91 from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. 92 18:3 As they approached 93 Micah’s house, they recognized the accent 94 of the young Levite. So they stopped 95 there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” 96 18:4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, 97 “He hired me and I became his priest.” 18:5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, 98 so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” 99 18:6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence. 100 The Lord will be with you on your mission.” 101
18:7 So the five men journeyed on 102 and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there 103 were living securely, like the Sidonians do, 104 undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. 105 They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 106 18:8 When the Danites returned to their tribe 107 in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen 108 asked them, “How did it go?” 109 18:9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them, 110 for 111 we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, 112 but don’t hesitate 113 to invade and conquer 114 the land. 18:10 When you invade, 115 you will encounter 116 unsuspecting people. The land is wide! 117 God is handing it over to you – a place that lacks nothing on earth!” 118
18:11 So six hundred Danites, fully armed, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. 119 18:12 They went up and camped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (To this day that place is called Camp of Dan. 120 It is west 121 of Kiriath Jearim.) 18:13 From there they traveled through the Ephraimite hill country and arrived at Micah’s house. 18:14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish 122 said to their kinsmen, 123 “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.” 18:15 They stopped 124 there, went inside the young Levite’s house (which belonged to Micah), 125 and asked him how he was doing. 126 18:16 Meanwhile the six hundred Danites, fully armed, stood at the entrance to the gate. 127 18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole 128 the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. 129 18:18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole 130 the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 18:19 They said to him, “Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser 131 and priest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?” 132 18:20 The priest was happy. He took the ephod, the personal idols, and the carved image and joined the group. 133
18:21 They turned and went on their way, but they walked behind the children, the cattle, and their possessions. 134 18:22 After they had gone a good distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors 135 gathered together and caught up with the Danites. 18:23 When they called out to the Danites, the Danites 136 turned around and said to Micah, “Why have you gathered together?” 18:24 He said, “You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” 137 18:25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t say another word to us, or some very angry men 138 will attack you, and you and your family will die.” 139 18:26 The Danites went on their way; when Micah realized 140 they were too strong to resist, 141 he turned around and went home.
18:27 Now the Danites 142 took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. 143 18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city 144 was far from Sidon 145 and they had no dealings with anyone. 146 The city 147 was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites 148 rebuilt the city and occupied it. 18:29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. 149 But the city’s name used to be Laish. 18:30 The Danites worshiped 150 the carved image. Jonathan, descendant 151 of Gershom, son of Moses, 152 and his descendants 153 served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 18:31 They worshiped 154 Micah’s carved image 155 the whole time God’s authorized shrine 156 was in Shiloh.
[16:1] 1 tn Heb “and he went in to her.” The idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations.
[16:2] 2 tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”
[16:2] 3 tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.
[16:2] 4 tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”
[16:2] 5 tn Heb “were silent.”
[16:2] 7 tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[16:2] 8 tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”
[16:3] 9 tn Heb “And Samson lay until the middle of the night and arose in the middle of the night.”
[16:3] 10 tn Heb “with the bar.”
[16:3] 11 tn Heb “which is upon the face of Hebron.”
[16:5] 12 tn Heb “subdue him in order to humiliate him.”
[16:6] 13 tn Heb “how you can be subdued in order to be humiliated.”
[16:7] 15 tn The word refers to a bowstring, probably made from animal tendons. See Ps 11:2; Job 30:11.
[16:9] 16 tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting for her.” The grammatically singular form וְהָאֹרֵב (vÿha’orev) is collective here, referring to the rulers as a group (so also in v. 16).
[16:9] 17 tn Heb “are upon you.”
[16:9] 18 tn Heb “when it smells fire.”
[16:9] 19 tn Heb “His strength was not known.”
[16:10] 20 tn See Gen 31:7; Exod 8:29 [8:25 HT]; Job 13:9; Isa 44:20; Jer 9:4 for other uses of this Hebrew word (II תָּלַל, talal), which also occurs in v. 13.
[16:11] 21 tn Heb “with which no work has been done.”
[16:12] 22 tn Heb “are upon you.”
[16:12] 23 tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting in the bedroom.”
[16:12] 24 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the ropes) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[16:13] 25 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.
[16:13] 26 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.
[16:14] 27 tn Heb “are upon you.”
[16:14] 28 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.
[16:14] 29 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[16:15] 30 tn Heb “when your heart is not with me.”
[16:16] 31 tn Heb “forced him with her words.”
[16:16] 32 tn Heb “and his spirit was short [i.e., impatient] to the point of death.”
[16:17] 33 tn Heb “all his heart.”
[16:17] 34 tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”
[16:17] 35 tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).
[16:17] 36 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”
[16:17] 37 tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).
[16:18] 38 tn Heb “all his heart.”
[16:18] 39 tn Heb “she sent and summoned.”
[16:18] 40 tc The translation follows the Qere, לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the Kethib, לָהּ (lah, “to her”).
[16:18] 41 tn Heb “all his heart.”
[16:19] 42 tn Heb “on her knees.” The expression is probably euphemistic for sexual intercourse. See HALOT 160-61 s.v. בֶּרֶךְ.
[16:19] 43 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.
[16:19] 44 tn Heb “head.” By metonymy the hair of his head is meant.
[16:19] 45 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.
[16:20] 46 tn Heb “are upon you.”
[16:20] 47 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[16:20] 49 tn Heb “I will go out as before.”
[16:22] 50 tn Heb “the hair of his head.”
[16:24] 51 tn Most interpret this as a reference to Samson, but this seems premature, since v. 25 suggests he was not yet standing before them. Consequently some prefer to see this statement as displaced and move it to v. 25 (see C. F. Burney, Judges, 387). It seems more likely that the pronoun refers to an image of Dagon.
[16:24] 52 tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”
[16:25] 53 tn Heb “When their heart was good.”
[16:25] 54 tn Heb “before them.”
[16:26] 55 tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house is founded.”
[16:28] 57 tn The Hebrew has אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה (’adonay yehovih, “Lord Yahweh”).
[16:28] 58 tn Heb “so I can get revenge with one act of vengeance.”
[16:29] 59 tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house was founded.”
[16:30] 60 tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”
[16:30] 61 tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”
[16:31] 62 tn Heb “and all the house of his father.”
[16:31] 63 tn Heb “and lifted him up and brought up.”
[16:31] 64 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
[17:2] 65 tn The words “You know” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[17:2] 68 tn In the Hebrew text the statement, “but now I am giving it back to you,” appears at the end of v. 3 and is spoken by the mother. But v. 4 indicates that she did not give the money back to her son. Unless the statement is spoken by the woman to the LORD, it appears to be misplaced and fits much better in v. 2. It may have been accidentally omitted from a manuscript, written in the margin, and then later inserted in the wrong place in another manuscript.
[17:2] 69 tn Traditionally, “bless.”
[17:3] 70 tn Heb “dedicating, I dedicate.” In this case the emphatic infinitive absolute lends a mood of solemnity to the statement.
[17:3] 71 tn Heb “to the LORD from my hand for my son to make a carved image and cast metal image.” She cannot mean that she is now taking the money from her hand and giving it back to her son so he can make an image. Verses 4-6 indicate she took back the money and used a portion of it to hire a silversmith to make an idol for her son to use. The phrase “a carved image and cast metal image” is best taken as referring to two idols (see 18:17-18), even though the verb at the end of v. 4, וַיְהִי (vayÿhi, “and it was [in the house of Micah]”), is singular.
[17:4] 72 tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.
[17:4] 73 tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[17:4] 74 tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”
[17:5] 75 tn Heb “house of God.”
[17:5] 76 sn Here an ephod probably refers to a priestly garment (cf. Exod 28:4-6).
[17:5] 77 tn Heb “and he filled the hand of one of his sons and he became his priest.”
[17:6] 78 tn Heb “Each was doing what was right in his [own] eyes.”
[17:7] 79 map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.
[17:7] 80 tn Heb “There was a young man from Bethlehem of Judah, from the tribe of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he was temporarily residing there.”
[17:8] 81 tn Heb “He came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, making his way.”
[17:9] 82 tn Heb “And I am going to reside in a place I can find.”
[17:10] 83 tn Heb “father.” “Father” is here a title of honor that suggests the priest will give advice and protect the interests of the family, primarily by divining God’s will in matters, perhaps through the use of the ephod. (See R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 257; also Gen 45:8, where Joseph, who was a diviner and interpreter of dreams, is called Pharaoh’s “father,” and 2 Kgs 6:21; 13:14, where a prophet is referred to as a “father.” Note also 2 Kgs 8:9, where a king identifies himself as a prophet’s “son.” One of a prophet’s main functions was to communicate divine oracles. Cf. 2 Kgs 8:9ff.; 13:14-19).
[17:10] 84 tn The Hebrew text expands with the phrase: “and the Levite went.” This only makes sense if taken with “to live” in the next verse. Apparently “the Levite went” and “the Levite agreed” are alternative readings which have been juxtaposed in the text.
[17:11] 85 tn Heb “the young man became like one of his sons.”
[17:12] 86 tn Heb “filled the hand of.”
[17:13] 87 tn Heb “do good for me.”
[18:1] 88 tn Heb “an inheritance.”
[18:1] 89 tn Heb “because there had not fallen to them by that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel an inheritance.”
[18:2] 90 tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”
[18:2] 91 tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”
[18:2] 92 tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”
[18:3] 93 tn Or “When they were near.”
[18:3] 94 tn Heb “voice.” This probably means that “his speech was Judahite [i.e., southern] like their own, not Israelite [i.e., northern]” (R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 263).
[18:3] 95 tn Heb “turned aside.”
[18:3] 96 tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”
[18:4] 97 tn Heb “He said to them, ‘Such and such Micah has done for me.’” Though the statement is introduced and presented, at least in part, as a direct quotation (note especially “for me”), the phrase “such and such” appears to be the narrator’s condensed version of what the Levite really said.
[18:5] 99 tn Heb “so we can know if our way on which we are going will be successful.”
[18:6] 101 tn Heb “In front of the LORD is your way in which you are going.”
[18:7] 103 tn Heb “who were in its midst.”
[18:7] 104 tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”
[18:7] 105 tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”
[18:7] 106 tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.
[18:8] 107 tn Heb “They came to their brothers.”
[18:9] 110 tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”
[18:9] 111 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”
[18:9] 112 tn Heb “But you are inactive.”
[18:9] 114 tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”
[18:10] 115 tn Heb “When you enter.”
[18:10] 116 tn Heb “you will come to.”
[18:10] 117 tn Heb “broad of hands,” an idiom meaning “wide on both sides.”
[18:10] 118 tn Heb “a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”
[18:11] 119 tn Heb “They journeyed from there, from the tribe of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men, equipped with weapons of war.”
[18:12] 120 tn Or “Mahaneh Dan”; the Hebrew term “Mahaneh” means “camp [of].” Many English versions retain the transliterated Hebrew expression, but cf. CEV “Dan’s Camp.”
[18:14] 122 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX lacks the phrase “of Laish.”
[18:14] 123 tn Heb “brothers.”
[18:15] 124 tn Heb “turned aside.”
[18:15] 125 tn Heb “Micah’s house.”
[18:15] 126 tn Heb “they asked him concerning peace.”
[18:16] 127 tn Heb “And the six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war…from the sons of Dan.”
[18:17] 128 tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”
[18:17] 129 tn Heb “six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war.”
[18:18] 130 tn Heb “These went into Micah’s house and took.”
[18:19] 131 tn See the note on the word “adviser” in 17:10.
[18:19] 132 tn Heb “Is it better for you to be priest for the house of one man or for you to be priest for a tribe, for a clan in Israel?”
[18:20] 133 tn Heb “and went into the midst of the people.”
[18:21] 134 tn Heb “They turned and went and put the children, the cattle, and the possessions in front of them.”
[18:22] 135 tn Heb “the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house.”
[18:23] 136 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:24] 137 tn Heb “What is this you say to me, ‘What to you?’”
[18:25] 138 tn Heb “bitter in spirit.” This phrase is used in 2 Sam 17:8 of David and his warriors, who are compared to a bear robbed of her cubs.
[18:25] 139 tn Heb “and you will gather up your life and the life of your house.”
[18:26] 141 tn Heb “they were stronger than he.”
[18:27] 142 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:27] 143 tn The Hebrew adds “with fire.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.
[18:28] 144 tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.
[18:28] 145 map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
[18:28] 146 tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”
[18:28] 147 tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.
[18:28] 148 tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:29] 149 tn Heb “They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who had been born to Israel.”
[18:30] 150 tn Heb “erected for themselves.”
[18:30] 152 tc Several ancient textual witnesses, including some LXX
[18:31] 154 tn Heb “they set up for themselves.”
