6:19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, 11 along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food 12 to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.
13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God 13 came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. 14 I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.
19:16 But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. 25 The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.) 26
19:22 They were having a good time, 28 when suddenly 29 some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, 30 surrounded the house and kept beating 31 on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” 32
1 tn Or “look.”
2 tn Heb “navel.” On the background of the Hebrew expression “the navel of the land,” see R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 178-79.
3 tn Heb “head.”
4 tn Some English translations simply transliterated this as a place name (Heb “Elon-meonenim”); cf. NAB, NRSV.
3 tn Heb “and said to him.” This phrase has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “Look.”
5 tn Heb “came to.”
4 tn Or “cool.” This probably refers to a room with latticed windows which allowed the breeze to pass through. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 144.
5 tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”
6 tn Or “throne.”
5 tn Heb “a kid from among the goats.”
6 tn The words “the food” are not in the Hebrew text (an implied direct object). They are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “The man of God.”
7 tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”
7 tn Heb “rushed on.”
8 tn Heb “burned with.”
9 tn Heb “his bonds.”
8 tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”
9 tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.
10 tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”
11 tn Heb “were silent.”
12 tn Heb “saying.”
13 tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”
9 tn Heb “And look, an old man was coming from his work, from the field in the evening.”
10 tn Heb “And the men of the place were Benjaminites.”
10 tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”
11 tn Heb “they were making their heart good.”
12 tn Heb “and look.”
13 tn Heb “the men of the city, men, the sons of wickedness.” The phrases are in apposition; the last phrase specifies what type of men they were. It is not certain if all the men of the city are in view, or just a group of troublemakers. In 20:5 the town leaders are implicated in the crime, suggesting that all the men of the city were involved. If so, the implication is that the entire male population of the town were good-for-nothings.
14 tn The Hitpael verb form appears to have an iterative force here, indicating repeated action.
15 tn Heb “so we can know him.” On the surface one might think they simply wanted to meet the visitor and get to know him, but their hostile actions betray their double-talk. The old man, who has been living with them long enough to know what they are like, seems to have no doubts about the meaning of their words (see v. 23).