Judges 3:12-13

Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ²  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight. 3:13 Eglon formed alliances with ³  the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees.

Judges 6:3-5

6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, ⁴  the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack them. ⁵  6:4 They invaded the land ⁶  and devoured ⁷  its crops ⁸  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ⁹  and they took away ¹⁰  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys. 6:5 When they invaded ¹¹  with their cattle and tents, they were as thick ¹²  as locusts. Neither they nor their camels could be counted. ¹³  They came to devour ¹⁴  the land.

Judges 6:2

6:2 The Midianites ¹⁵  overwhelmed Israel. ¹⁶  Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters ¹⁷  for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Judges 14:9

14:9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned ¹⁸  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. ¹⁹ 

Judges 20:1-2

Civil War Breaks Out

20:1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba ²⁰  and from the land of Gilead ²¹  left their homes ²²  and assembled together ²³  before the Lord at Mizpah. 20:2 The leaders ²⁴  of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered ²⁵  four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).

² tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”

³ tn Heb “and he gathered to him.”

⁴ tn Heb “Whenever Israel sowed seed.”

⁵ tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east would go up, they would go up against him.” The translation assumes that וְעָלוּ (vÿ’alu) is dittographic (note the following עָלָיו, ’alayv).

⁶ tn Heb “They encamped against them.”

⁷ tn Heb “destroyed.”

⁸ tn Heb “the crops of the land.”

⁹ tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”

¹⁰ tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹¹ tn Heb “came up.”

¹² tn Heb “numerous.”

¹³ tn Heb “To them and to their camels there was no number.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “destroy.” The translation “devour” carries through the imagery of a locust plague earlier in this verse.

¹⁵ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.”

¹⁷ tn Or possibly “secret storage places.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6.

²⁰ sn Dan was located in the far north of the country, while Beer Sheba was located in the far south. This encompassed all the territory of the land of Canaan occupied by the Israelites.

²¹ sn The land of Gilead was on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

²² tn Heb “went out.”

²³ tn Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”

²⁴ tn Heb “the cornerstones”; or “the supports.” The word is used of leaders in only three other texts – 1 Sam 14:38; Isa 19:13; Zech 10:4.

²⁵ tn The words “which numbered” are supplied in the translation for clarification.