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 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret. ⁴  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ⁵  for I have been dedicated to God ⁶  from the time I was conceived. ⁷  If my head ⁸  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

Judges 17:2

17:2 He said to his mother, “You know ⁹  the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen ¹⁰  from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole ¹¹  it, but now I am giving it back to you.” ¹²  His mother said, “May the Lord reward ¹³  you, my son!”

Judges 19:18

19:18 The Levite ¹⁴  said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem ¹⁵  in Judah to the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. That’s where I’m from. I had business in Bethlehem in Judah, but now I’m heading home. ¹⁶  But no one has invited me into their home.

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 “all his heart.”

⁵ tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

⁶ tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

⁷ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

⁸ tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).

⁷ tn The words “You know” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁸ tn Heb “taken.”

⁹ tn Heb “took.”

¹⁰ tn In the Hebrew text the statement, “but now I am giving it back to you,” appears at the end of v. 3 and is spoken by the mother. But v. 4 indicates that she did not give the money back to her son. Unless the statement is spoken by the woman to the LORD, it appears to be misplaced and fits much better in v. 2. It may have been accidentally omitted from a manuscript, written in the margin, and then later inserted in the wrong place in another manuscript.

¹¹ tn Traditionally, “bless.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

¹² tn Heb “I went to Bethlehem in Judah, but [to] the house of the LORD I am going.” The Hebrew text has “house of the LORD,” which might refer to the shrine at Shiloh. The LXX reads “to my house.”