Judges 9:2

9:2 “Tell ¹  all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want ²  to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’” ³ 

Judges 9:5

9:5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, ⁴  the seventy legitimate ⁵  sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, ⁶  because he hid.

Judges 10:4

10:4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities. To this day these towns are called Havvoth Jair ⁷  – they are in the land of Gilead. ⁸ 

Judges 12:9

12:9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, ⁹  and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. ¹⁰  Ibzan ¹¹  led ¹²  Israel for seven years;

Judges 12:14

12:14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel for eight years.

Genesis 46:26

46:26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.) ¹³ 

Exodus 1:5

1:5 All the people ¹⁴  who were directly descended ¹⁵  from Jacob numbered seventy. ¹⁶  But Joseph was already in Egypt, ¹⁷ 

Exodus 1:2

1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

Exodus 10:1

The Eighth Blow: Locusts

10:1 ¹⁸ The Lord said ¹⁹  to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display ²⁰  these signs of mine before him, ²¹ 

¹ tn Heb “Speak into the ears of.”

² tn Heb “What good is it to you?”

³ tn Heb “your bone and your flesh.”

⁴ tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁵ tn The word “legitimate” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁶ tn Heb “remained.”

⁷ sn The name Habboth Jair means “tent villages of Jair” in Hebrew.

⁸ tn Heb “they call them Havvoth Jair to this day – which are in the land of Gilead.”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”

¹² tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.

¹³ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

¹³ tn Heb “All the people who went with Jacob to Egypt, the ones who came out of his body, apart from the wives of the sons of Jacob, all the people were sixty-six.”

¹⁶ tn The word נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul.” But the word refers to the whole person, the body with the soul, and so “life” or “person” is frequently a better translation.

¹⁷ tn The expression in apposition to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) literally says “those who went out from the loins of Jacob.” This distinguishes the entire company as his direct descendants.

¹⁸ sn Gen 46 describes in more detail Jacob’s coming to Egypt with his family. The Greek text of Exod 1:5 and of Gen 46:27 and two Qumran manuscripts, have the number as seventy-five, counting the people a little differently. E. H. Merrill in conjunction with F. Delitzsch notes that the list in Gen 46 of those who entered Egypt includes Hezron and Hamul, who did so in potentia, since they were born after the family entered Egypt. Joseph’s sons are also included, though they too were born in Egypt. “The list must not be pressed too literally” (E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 49).

¹⁹ tn Heb “and Joseph was in Egypt” (so ASV). The disjunctive word order in Hebrew draws attention to the fact that Joseph, in contrast to his brothers, did not come to Egypt at the same time as Jacob.

¹⁹ sn The Egyptians dreaded locusts like every other ancient civilization. They had particular gods to whom they looked for help in such catastrophes. The locust-scaring deities of Greece and Asia were probably looked to in Egypt as well (especially in view of the origins in Egypt of so many of those religious ideas). The announcement of the plague falls into the now-familiar pattern. God tells Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh but reminds Moses that he has hardened his heart. Yahweh explains that he has done this so that he might show his power, so that in turn they might declare his name from generation to generation. This point is stressed so often that it must not be minimized. God was laying the foundation of the faith for Israel – the sovereignty of Yahweh.

²⁰ tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”

²¹ tn The verb is שִׁתִי (shiti, “I have put”); it is used here as a synonym for the verb שִׂים (sim). Yahweh placed the signs in his midst, where they will be obvious.

²² tn Heb “in his midst.”