Judges 2:17

2:17 But they did not obey ¹  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ²  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ³  their ancestors ⁴  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁵ 

Judges 13:16

13:16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, ⁶  I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) ⁷ 

Judges 13:23

13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. ⁸  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

Judges 14:16

14:16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder ⁹  and said, “You must ¹⁰  hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men ¹¹  a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” ¹² 

Judges 15:13

15:13 They said to him, “We promise! ¹³  We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

Judges 21:5

21:5 The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed. ¹⁴ 

Judges 21:8

21:8 So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering. ¹⁵ 

Judges 21:22

21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, ¹⁶  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ¹⁷  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ¹⁸  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ¹⁹  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ²⁰ 

¹ tn Or “did not listen to.”

² tn Or “bowed before.”

³ tn Or “way [of life].”

⁴ tn Or “fathers.”

⁵ tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”

⁶ tn Heb “If you detain me.”

⁷ tn The words “he said this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Manoah should have known from these words that the messenger represented the Lord. In the preceding narrative the narrator has informed the reader that the visitor is the Lord’s messenger, but Manoah and his wife did not perceive this. In vv. 5 and 7 the angel refers to “God” (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim), not the Lord (יְהוַה, yÿhvah). Manoah’s wife calls the visitor “a man sent from God” and “God’s messenger” (v. 6), while Manoah prays to the “Lord” (אֲדוֹנָי, ’adonay) and calls the visitor “a man sent from God” (v. 8).

¹¹ tn Heb “our hand.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “on him.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “only”; or “simply.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “the sons of my people.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “Should I tell you?”

²¹ tn Heb “No,” meaning that they will not harm him.

²⁶ tn Heb “A great oath there was concerning the one who did not go up before the Lord at Mizpah, saying, ‘He must surely be put to death.’”

³¹ tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”

³⁶ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

³⁷ tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³⁸ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

³⁹ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

⁴⁰ tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.