Judges 18:28-31

18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city ¹  was far from Sidon ²  and they had no dealings with anyone. ³  The city ⁴  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁵  rebuilt the city and occupied it. 18:29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. ⁶  But the city’s name used to be Laish. 18:30 The Danites worshiped ⁷  the carved image. Jonathan, descendant ⁸  of Gershom, son of Moses, ⁹  and his descendants ¹⁰  served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 18:31 They worshiped ¹¹  Micah’s carved image ¹²  the whole time God’s authorized shrine ¹³  was in Shiloh.

¹ tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

² map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

³ tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

⁴ tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

⁵ tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who had been born to Israel.”

⁷ tn Heb “erected for themselves.”

⁸ tn Heb “son.”

⁹ tc Several ancient textual witnesses, including some LXX mss and the Vulgate, support the reading “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה, mosheh) here. Many Hebrew mss have a nun (נ) suspended above the name between the first two letters (מנשׁה), suggesting the name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, mÿnasheh). This is probably a scribal attempt to protect Moses’ reputation. For discussion, see G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 401-2.

¹⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

¹¹ tn Heb “they set up for themselves.”

¹² tn Heb “the carved image that Micah had made.”

¹³ tn Heb “the house of God.”