Judges 16:1

Samson’s Downfall

16:1 Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went in to have sex with her. ¹ 

Judges 8:27

8:27 Gideon used all this to make ²  an ephod, ³  which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites ⁴  prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it ⁵  there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Judges 8:33

Israel Returns to Baal-Worship

8:33 After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith ⁶  their god.

Judges 11:1

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. ⁷ 

Judges 19:2

19:2 However, she ⁸  got angry at him ⁹  and went home ¹⁰  to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. When she had been there four months,

Judges 2:17

2:17 But they did not obey ¹¹  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ¹²  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ¹³  their ancestors ¹⁴  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “and he went in to her.” The idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations.

² tn Heb “made it into.”

³ sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.

⁴ tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).

⁵ tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Baal-Berith was a local manifestation of the Canaanite storm god. The name means, ironically, “Baal of the covenant.” Israel’s covenant allegiance had indeed shifted.

⁴ tn Heb “Now he was the son of a woman, a prostitute, and Gilead fathered Jephthah.”

⁵ tn Heb “and his concubine.” The pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Or “was unfaithful to him.” Many have understood the Hebrew verb וַתִּזְנֶה (vattizneh) as being from זָנָה (zanah, “to be a prostitute”), but it may be derived from a root meaning “to be angry; to hate” attested in Akkadian (see HALOT 275 s.v. II זנה).

⁷ tn Heb “went from him.”

⁶ tn Or “did not listen to.”

⁷ tn Or “bowed before.”

⁸ tn Or “way [of life].”

⁹ tn Or “fathers.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”