1:1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked 1 the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” 2
1:4 The men of Judah attacked, 6 and the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek.
1 tn The Hebrew verb translated “asked” (שָׁאַל, sha’al) refers here to consulting the
2 tn Heb “Who should first go up for us against the Canaanites to attack them?”
3 tn Heb “Judah said to Simeon, his brother.”
4 tn Heb “Come up with me into our allotted land and let us attack the Canaanites.”
5 tn Heb “I.” The Hebrew pronoun is singular, agreeing with the collective singular “Judah” earlier in the verse. English style requires a plural pronoun here, however.
5 tn Heb “Judah went up.”
7 tn That is, “consider legal disputes.”
8 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
9 tn Heb “for judgment.”
9 tn Heb “came up.”
10 tn Heb “numerous.”
11 tn Heb “To them and to their camels there was no number.”
12 tn Heb “destroy.” The translation “devour” carries through the imagery of a locust plague earlier in this verse.
11 tn Heb “and he also was summoned after him.”
13 tn Heb “and spoke to them in the same way.”
14 tn Heb “The men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth answered.”
15 tn Heb “the ones living in tents.”
16 tn Heb “and attacked the army, while the army was secure.” The Hebrew term בֶטַח (vetakh, “secure”) probably means the army was undefended (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 156), not suspecting an attack at that time and place.
17 tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotse’, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.
18 tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.
19 tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the
19 tc Heb “Doing an extraordinary deed while Manoah and his wife were watching.” The subject of the participle is missing. The translation assumes that the phrase “the
21 tn Heb “and he went up.”
22 tn Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”
23 tn Heb “the third day.”