3:18 After Ehud brought the tribute payment, he dismissed the people who had carried it. 1
6:36 Gideon said to God, “If you really intend to use me to deliver Israel, 2 as you promised, then give me a sign as proof. 3
8:4 Now Gideon and his three hundred men had crossed over the Jordan River, and even though they were exhausted, they were still chasing the Midianites. 4
9:34 So Abimelech and all his men came up 12 at night and set an ambush outside Shechem – they divided into 13 four units.
9:56 God repaid Abimelech for the evil he did to his father by murdering his seventy half-brothers. 14
1 tn Heb “the tribute payment.”
2 tn More literally, “you are about to deliver Israel by my hand.”
3 tn The words “then give me a sign as proof” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn Heb “And Gideon arrived at the Jordan, crossing over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted and chasing.” The English past perfect (“had crossed”) is used because this verse flashes back chronologically to an event that preceded the hostile encounter described in vv. 1-3. (Note that 7:25 assumes Gideon had already crossed the Jordan.)
4 sn A concubine was a slave woman in ancient Near Eastern societies who was the legal property of her master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with her master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).
5 sn The name Abimelech means “my father is king.”
5 tc Heb “threw his life out in front,” that is, “exposed himself to danger.” The MT form מִנֶּגֶד (minneged, “from before”) should probably be read as מִנֶּגְדּוֹ (minnegdo, “from before him”); haplography of vav has likely occurred here in the MT.
6 tn Heb “hand.”
6 tn Heb “arise.”
7 tn Heb “you and the people who are with you.”
8 tn The words “outside the city” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn Heb “and all the people who were with him arose.”
8 tn Heb “four heads.” The words “they divided into” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tn Heb “seventy brothers.”
9 tn Heb “in your time of trouble.”
10 tn Heb “did not listen to.”
11 tn Heb “Jephthah’s words which he sent to him.”
11 tn Or “said to.”
12 tn Heb “To everything I said to the woman she should pay attention.” The Hebrew word order emphasizes “to everything,” probably because Manoah’s wife did not tell her husband everything the angel had said to her (cf. vv. 3-5 with v. 7). If she had, Manoah probably would not have been so confused about the child’s mission.
12 tn Heb “Ask God.”
13 tn Heb “so we can know if our way on which we are going will be successful.”
13 tn Heb “in peace.”
14 tn Heb “In front of the LORD is your way in which you are going.”
14 tn Heb “And the six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war…from the sons of Dan.”
15 tn Heb “and they passed by and went.”
16 tn Heb “which belongs to Benjamin.”
16 tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”
17 tn Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.”
18 tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (ve’et-habbÿtulot tÿkhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vÿ’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.