18:1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place 1 to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel. 2
18:7 So the five men journeyed on 3 and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there 4 were living securely, like the Sidonians do, 5 undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. 6 They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 7
1 tn Heb “an inheritance.”
2 tn Heb “because there had not fallen to them by that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel an inheritance.”
3 tn Or “went.”
4 tn Heb “who were in its midst.”
5 tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”
6 tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”
7 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.