Judges 1:1

Judah Takes the Lead

1:1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked ¹  the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” ² 

Judges 1:14

1:14 One time Acsah ³  came and charmed her father ⁴  so she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

Judges 4:20

4:20 He said to her, “Stand watch at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes along and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say ‘No.’”

Judges 8:14

8:14 He captured a young man from Succoth ⁵  and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. ⁶ 

Judges 8:24

8:24 Gideon continued, ⁷  “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” ⁸  (The Midianites ⁹  had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

[1:1]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “asked” (שָׁאַל, sha’al) refers here to consulting the Lord through a prophetic oracle; cf. NAB “consulted.”

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “Who should first go up for us against the Canaanites to attack them?”

[1:14]  ³ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “him.” The pronoun could refer to Othniel, in which case one would translate, “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Acsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 15. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18 // Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. The translation takes Caleb to be the referent, specified as “her father.”

[8:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the men of Succoth.”

[8:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.”

[8:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “said to them.”

[8:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “Give to me, each one, an earring from his plunder.”

[8:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Midianites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.