Judges 7:6

7:6 Three hundred men lapped; ¹  the rest of the men ²  kneeled to drink water.

Judges 9:27

9:27 They went out to the field, harvested their grapes, ³  squeezed out the juice, ⁴  and celebrated. They came to the temple ⁵  of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelech.

Judges 19:4

19:4 His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay with him for three days, and they ate and drank together, and spent the night there.

Judges 19:6

19:6 So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. ⁶  Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!” ⁷ 

¹ tc The Hebrew text adds, “with their hands to their mouths,” This makes no sense in light of v. 5, which distinguishes between dog-like lappers (who would not use their hands to drink) and those who kneel (who would use their hands). It seems likely that the words “with their hands to their mouths” have been misplaced from v. 6. They fit better at the end of v. 5 or v. 6. Perhaps these words were originally a marginal scribal note which was later accidentally inserted into the text in the wrong place.

² tn Heb “the people.”

³ tn Heb “vineyards.”

⁴ tn Heb “stomped” or “trampled.” This refers to the way in which the juice was squeezed out in the wine vats by stepping on the grapes with one’s bare feet. For a discussion of grape harvesting in ancient Israel, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-14.

⁵ tn Heb “house.”

⁵ tn Heb “And they sat and ate, the two of them together, and they drank.”

⁶ tn Heb “Be willing and spend the night so that your heart might be good.”