Judges 4:2

4:2 The Lord turned them over to ¹  King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. ²  The general of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. ³ 

Judges 4:1

Deborah Summons Barak

4:1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight ⁴  after Ehud’s death.

Judges 12:9-10

12:9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, ⁵  and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. ⁶  Ibzan ⁷  led ⁸  Israel for seven years; 12:10 then he ⁹  died and was buried in Bethlehem.

Psalms 44:12

44:12 You sold ¹⁰  your people for a pittance; ¹¹ 

you did not ask a high price for them. ¹² 

Isaiah 50:1

50:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

by which I divorced her?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ¹³ 

Look, you were sold because of your sins; ¹⁴ 

because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord sold them into the hands of.”

² tn Or “King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite ruler.”

³ tn Or “Harosheth of the Pagan Nations”; cf. KJV “Harosheth of the Gentiles.”

⁴ tn Heb “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁷ tn Heb “thirty daughters he sent off outside.” Another option is to translate, “He arranged for his thirty daughters…” It is not clear if he had more than the “thirty daughters” mentioned in the text.

⁸ tn Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”

⁹ tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Ibzan.” The pronoun “he” is used in the translation in keeping with English style, which tends to use a proper name first in a sentence followed by a pronoun rather than vice versa.

¹³ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

¹⁴ tn Heb “for what is not wealth.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “you did not multiply their purchase prices.”

¹⁶ sn The Lord challenges the exiles (Zion’s children) to bring incriminating evidence against him. The rhetorical questions imply that Israel accused the Lord of divorcing his wife (Zion) and selling his children (the Israelites) into slavery to pay off a debt.

¹⁷ sn The Lord admits that he did sell the Israelites, but it was because of their sins, not because of some debt he owed. If he had sold them to a creditor, they ought to be able to point him out, but the preceding rhetorical question implies they would not be able to do so.

¹⁸ sn The Lord admits he did divorce Zion, but that too was the result of the nation’s sins. The force of the earlier rhetorical question comes into clearer focus now. The question does not imply that a certificate does not exist and that no divorce occurred. Rather, the question asks for the certificate to be produced so the accuser can see the reason for the divorce in black and white. The Lord did not put Zion away arbitrarily.