Judges 2:14

2:14 The Lord was furious with Israel¹ and handed them over to robbers who plundered them.² He turned them over to³ their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks.⁴

Judges 2:18

2:18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people⁵ from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them⁶ when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.⁷

Judges 4:14-15

4:14 Deborah said to Barak, “Spring into action,⁸ for this is the day the Lord is handing Sisera over to you!⁹ Has the Lord not taken the lead?”¹⁰ Barak quickly went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 4:15 The Lord routed¹¹ Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword.¹² Sisera jumped out of¹³ his chariot and ran away on foot.

Judges 6:2

6:2 The Midianites¹⁴ overwhelmed Israel.¹⁵ Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters¹⁶ for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Judges 6:11

Gideon Meets Some Visitors

6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger¹⁷ came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon¹⁸ was threshing¹⁹ wheat in a winepress²⁰ so he could hide it from the Midianites.²¹

Judges 11:9

11:9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right!²² If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me,²³ I will be your leader.”²⁴

Judges 11:11

11:11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement²⁵ before the Lord in Mizpah.

Judges 11:33

11:33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith – twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out!²⁶ The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites.²⁷

Judges 16:3

16:3 Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left.²⁸ He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all.²⁹ He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron.³⁰

Judges 16:25

16:25 When they really started celebrating,³¹ they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them.³² They made him stand between two pillars.

Judges 20:23

20:23 The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we³³ again march out to fight³⁴ the Benjaminites, our brothers?”³⁵ The Lord said, “Attack them!”³⁶

Judges 20:28

20:28 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord³⁷ in those days), “Should we³⁸ once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers,³⁹ or should we⁴⁰ quit?” The Lord said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them⁴¹ over to you.”

Judges 20:35

20:35 The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites.⁴²

Judges 20:39

20:39 the Israelites counterattacked.⁴³ Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites;⁴⁴ they struck down⁴⁵ about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”

¹tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”

²tn Heb “robbers who robbed them.” (The verb שָׁסָה [shasah] appears twice in the verse.)

³tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”

⁴tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

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

⁶tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁷tn Heb “the ones oppressing them and afflicting them.” The synonyms “oppressing” and “afflicting” are joined together in the translation as “harsh oppressors” to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.

⁹tn Heb “Arise!”

¹⁰tn The verb form (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”

¹¹tn Heb “Has the Lord not gone out before you?”

¹³tn Or “caused to panic.”

¹⁴tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “before Barak.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁵tn Heb “got down from.”

¹⁷tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

¹⁸tn Heb “The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.”

¹⁹tn Or possibly “secret storage places.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

²¹tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

²²tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.

²³tn Heb “beating out.”

²⁴sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.

²⁵tn Heb “Midian.”

²⁵tn “All right” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

²⁶tn Heb “places them before me.”

²⁷tn Some translate the final statement as a question, “will I really be your leader?” An affirmative sentence is preferable. Jephthah is repeating the terms of the agreement in an official manner. In v. 10 the leaders legally agree to these terms.

²⁹tn Heb “spoke all his words.” This probably refers to the “words” recorded in v. 9. Jephthah repeats the terms of the agreement at the Lord’s sanctuary, perhaps to ratify the contract or to emphasize the Gileadites’ obligation to keep their part of the bargain. Another option is to translate, “Jephthah conducted business before the Lord in Mizpah.” In this case, the statement is a general reference to the way Jephthah ruled. He recognized the Lord’s authority and made his decisions before the Lord.

³³tn Heb “with a very great slaughter.”

³⁴tn Heb “The Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.”

³⁷tn Heb “And Samson lay until the middle of the night and arose in the middle of the night.”

³⁸tn Heb “with the bar.”

³⁹tn Heb “which is upon the face of Hebron.”

⁴¹tn Heb “When their heart was good.”

⁴²tn Heb “before them.”

⁴⁵tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

⁴⁶tn Heb “approach for battle.”

⁴⁷tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).

⁴⁸tn Heb “Go up against him” (collective singular).

⁴⁹tn Heb “standing before him.”

⁵⁰tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

⁵¹tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).

⁵²tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

⁵³tn Heb “him” (collective singular).

⁵³tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”

⁵⁷tn Heb “turned in the battle.”

⁵⁸tn Heb “And Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel.”

⁵⁹tn The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.