5:3 Hear, O kings!
Pay attention, O rulers!
I will sing to the Lord! 1
I will sing 2 to the Lord God of Israel!
5:16 Why do you remain among the sheepfolds, 3
listening to the shepherds playing their pipes 4 for their flocks? 5
As for the clans of Reuben – there was intense searching of heart.
9:30 When Zebul, the city commissioner, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he was furious. 6
9:46 When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem 7 heard the news, they went to the stronghold 8 of the temple of El-Berith. 9
1 tn Heb “I, to the
2 tn Or “make music.”
3 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִשְׁפְּתַיִם (mishpÿtayim) is uncertain. Some understand the word to mean “campfires.”
4 tn Or “whistling.”
5 tn Heb “listening to the pipe playing for the flocks.”
5 tn Heb “his anger burned.”
7 sn Perhaps the Tower of Shechem was a nearby town, distinct from Shechem proper, or a tower within the city.
8 tn Apparently this rare word refers here to the most inaccessible area of the temple, perhaps the inner sanctuary or an underground chamber. It appears only here and in 1 Sam 13:6, where it is paired with “cisterns” and refers to subterranean or cave-like hiding places.
9 sn The name El-Berith means “God of the Covenant.” It is probably a reference to the Canaanite high god El.
9 tn Heb “did not listen to.”
10 tn Heb “Jephthah’s words which he sent to him.”