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 9:28

9:28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? ⁶  Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech? ⁷ 

Judges 14:9

14:9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned ⁸  to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass. ⁹ 

Judges 15:6

15:6 The Philistines asked, ¹⁰  “Who did this?” They were told, ¹¹  “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite ¹²  took Samson’s ¹³  bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. ¹⁴ 

Judges 18:19

18:19 They said to him, “Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser ¹⁵  and priest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?” ¹⁶ 

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 “and Zebul his appointee.”

⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abimelech) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “went.” Samson apparently went home to his parents before going to Timnah for the marriage. Seeing and tasting the honey appears to encourage Manoah to go with his son to Timnah. Perhaps both Samson and his father viewed the honey as a good omen of future blessing. Possibly Samson considered it a symbol of sexual pleasure or an aphrodisiac. Note the use of honey imagery in Song 4:11 and 5:1.

¹² sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6.

¹⁶ tn Or “said.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁰ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement with the additional phrase “burned with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons. Some textual witnesses read “burned…her father’s house,” perhaps under the influence of 14:15. On the other hand, the shorter text may have lost this phrase due to haplography.

²¹ tn See the note on the word “adviser” in 17:10.

²² tn Heb “Is it better for you to be priest for the house of one man or for you to be priest for a tribe, for a clan in Israel?”