Judges 3:7

Othniel: A Model Leader

3:7 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. 1  They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs. 2 

Judges 5:11

5:11 Hear 3  the sound of those who divide the sheep 4  among the watering places;

there they tell of 5  the Lord’s victorious deeds,

the victorious deeds of his warriors 6  in Israel.

Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –

Judges 6:24

6:24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” 7  To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 13:1

Samson’s Birth

13:1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, 8  so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

Judges 13:21

13:21 The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. 9 

1 tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

2 sn The Asherahs were local manifestations of the Canaanite goddess Asherah.

3 tn The word “Hear” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

4 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. Some translate “those who distribute the water” (HALOT 344 s.v. חצץ pi). For other options see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 246-47.

5 tn Or perhaps “repeat.”

6 tn See the note on the term “warriors” in v. 7.

5 tn Heb “The Lord is peace.” Gideon’s name for the altar plays on the Lord’s reassuring words to him, “Peace to you.”

7 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

9 tn Heb “Then Manoah knew that he was the Lord’s messenger.”