Judges 1:12

1:12 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife.”

Judges 1:20

1:20 Caleb received ¹  Hebron, just as Moses had promised. He drove out the three Anakites.

Judges 1:25

1:25 He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely.

Judges 2:4

2:4 When the Lord’s messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ² 

Judges 2:22

2:22 Joshua left those nations ³  to test ⁴  Israel. I wanted to see ⁵  whether or not the people ⁶  would carefully walk in the path ⁷  marked out by ⁸  the Lord, as their ancestors ⁹  were careful to do.”

Judges 3:21

3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ¹⁰  belly.

Judges 3:31

3:31 After Ehud ¹¹  came ¹²  Shamgar son of Anath; he killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad and, like Ehud, ¹³  delivered Israel.

Judges 8:12

8:12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon ¹⁴  chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised ¹⁵  their entire army.

Judges 8:16

8:16 He seized the leaders ¹⁶  of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. ¹⁷ 

Judges 9:27

9:27 They went out to the field, harvested their grapes, ¹⁸  squeezed out the juice, ¹⁹  and celebrated. They came to the temple ²⁰  of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelech.

Judges 9:29

9:29 If only these men ²¹  were under my command, ²²  I would get rid of Abimelech!” He challenged Abimelech, ²³  “Muster ²⁴  your army and come out for battle!” ²⁵ 

Judges 10:10

10:10 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: “We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped ²⁶  the Baals.”

Judges 11:20

11:20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He ²⁷  assembled his whole army, ²⁸  camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

¹ tn Heb “they gave to Caleb.”

¹ tn Heb “lifted their voices and wept.”

¹ tn The words “Joshua left those nations” are interpretive. The Hebrew text of v. 22 simply begins with “to test.” Some subordinate this phrase to “I will no longer remove” (v. 21). In this case the Lord announces that he has now decided to leave these nations as a test for Israel. Another possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “He said” (v. 20; see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 111). In this case the statement recorded in vv. 20b-21 is the test in that it forces Israel to respond either positively (through repentance) or negatively to the Lord’s declaration. A third possibility (the one reflected in the present translation) is to subordinate “to test” to “left unconquered” (v. 21). In this case the Lord recalls that Joshua left these nations as a test. Israel has failed the test (v. 20), so the Lord announces that the punishment threatened earlier (Josh 23:12-13; see also Judg 2:3) will now be implemented. As B. G. Webb (Judges [JSOTSup], 115) observes, “The nations which were originally left as a test are now left as a punishment.” This view best harmonizes v. 23, which explains that the Lord did not give all the nations to Joshua, with v. 22. (For a grammatical parallel, where the infinitive construct of נָסָה [nasah] is subordinated to the perfect of עָזַב [’azav], see 2 Chr 32:31.)

² tn The Hebrew text includes the phrase “by them,” but this is somewhat redundant in English and has been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn The words “I [i.e., the Lord] wanted to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Or “way [of life].”

⁶ tn “The words “marked out by” are interpretive.

⁷ tn Or “fathers.”

¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Ehud) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “was.”

³ tn Heb “also he”; the referent (Ehud) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “routed”; Heb “caused to panic.”

¹ tn Heb “elders.”

² tc The translation follows the reading of several ancient versions (LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) in assuming the form וַיָּדָשׁ (vayyadash) from the verb דּוֹשׁ (dosh, “thresh”) as in v. 7. The MT reads instead the form וַיֹּדַע (vayyoda’, “make known”), a Hiphil form of יָדַע (yadah). In this case one could translate, “he used them [i.e., the thorns and briers] to teach the men of Succoth a lesson.”

¹ tn Heb “vineyards.”

² tn Heb “stomped” or “trampled.” This refers to the way in which the juice was squeezed out in the wine vats by stepping on the grapes with one’s bare feet. For a discussion of grape harvesting in ancient Israel, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-14.

³ tn Heb “house.”

¹ tn Heb “people.”

² tn Heb “in my hand.”

³ tn Heb “said to Abimelech.” On the other hand, the preposition ל (lamed) prefixed to the proper name may be vocative (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 178). If so, one could translate, “He boasted, ‘Abimelech…’”

⁴ tn Heb “Make numerous.”

⁵ tn The words “for battle” are interpretive.

¹ tn Or “served”; or “followed.”

¹ tn Heb “Sihon.” The proper name (“Sihon”) has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) because of English style; a repetition of the proper name here would be redundant in English.

² tn Heb “all his people” (also in the following verse).