19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite 12 living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine 13 from Bethlehem 14 in Judah.
1 tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”
2 tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”
3 tn Heb “you have brought me very low,” or “you have knocked me to my knees.” The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.
4 tn Heb “You are among [or “like”] those who trouble me.”
5 tn Heb “I opened my mouth to the
5 tn Heb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302-3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.
6 tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”
7 tn Heb “on him.”
8 tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.
9 tn Heb “because she forced him.”
10 tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”
9 tn Heb “a man, a Levite.”
10 sn See the note on the word “concubine” in 8:31.
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
11 tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
12 tn Heb “from the day.”
13 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the following additional words: “And he instructed the men whom he sent out, ‘Thus you will say to every male Israelite: “There has never been anything like this from the day the Israelites left Egypt till the present day.”’”