Judges 1:14

1:14 One time Acsah ¹  came and charmed her father ²  so she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

Judges 2:19

2:19 When a leader died, the next generation ³  would again ⁴  act more wickedly than the previous one. ⁵  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ⁶  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ⁷  their practices or their stubborn ways.

Judges 2:22

2:22 Joshua left those nations ⁸  to test ⁹  Israel. I wanted to see ¹⁰  whether or not the people ¹¹  would carefully walk in the path ¹²  marked out by ¹³  the Lord, as their ancestors ¹⁴  were careful to do.”

Judges 3:4

3:4 They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses. ¹⁵ 

Judges 6:15

6:15 Gideon ¹⁶  said to him, “But Lord, ¹⁷  how ¹⁸  can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” ¹⁹ 

Judges 8:32

8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very ²⁰  old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 9:1

Abimelech Murders His Brothers

9:1 Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. ²¹  He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, ²² 

Judges 11:7

11:7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave ²³  my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”

Judges 14:2

14:2 When he got home, ²⁴  he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. ²⁵  Now get her for my wife.”

Judges 14:4-6

14:4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, ²⁶  because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines ²⁷  (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel).

14:5 Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached ²⁸  the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. ²⁹  14:6 The Lord’s spirit empowered ³⁰  him and he tore the lion ³¹  in two with his bare hands ³²  as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

Judges 15:2

15:2 Her father said, “I really thought ³³  you absolutely despised ³⁴  her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” ³⁵ 

Judges 18:29

18:29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. ³⁶  But the city’s name used to be Laish.

Judges 19:2

19:2 However, she ³⁷  got angry at him ³⁸  and went home ³⁹  to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. When she had been there four months,

Judges 19:4-6

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. 19:5 On the fourth day they woke up early and the Levite got ready to leave. ⁴⁰  But the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have a bite to eat for some energy, ⁴¹  then you can go.” 19:6 So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. ⁴²  Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!” ⁴³ 

Judges 19:8

19:8 He woke up early in the morning on the fifth day so he could leave, but the girl’s father said, “Get some energy. ⁴⁴  Wait until later in the day to leave!” ⁴⁵  So they ate a meal together.

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

[1:14]  ² 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.”

[2:19]  ³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the next generation) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:19]  ⁴ tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return; to turn”) is sometimes translated “turn back” here, but it is probably used in an adverbial sense, indicating that the main action (“act wickedly”) is being repeated.

[2:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “their fathers.”

[2:19]  ⁶ tn Or “serving [them]”; or “following [them].”

[2:19]  ⁷ tn Or “drop.”

[2:22]  ⁵ tn The words “Joshua left those nations” are interpretive. The Hebrew text of v. 22 simply begins with “to test.” Some subordinate this phrase to “I will no longer remove” (v. 21). In this case the Lord announces that he has now decided to leave these nations as a test for Israel. Another possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “He said” (v. 20; see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 111). In this case the statement recorded in vv. 20b-21 is the test in that it forces Israel to respond either positively (through repentance) or negatively to the Lord’s declaration. A third possibility (the one reflected in the present translation) is to subordinate “to test” to “left unconquered” (v. 21). In this case the Lord recalls that Joshua left these nations as a test. Israel has failed the test (v. 20), so the Lord announces that the punishment threatened earlier (Josh 23:12-13; see also Judg 2:3) will now be implemented. As B. G. Webb (Judges [JSOTSup], 115) observes, “The nations which were originally left as a test are now left as a punishment.” This view best harmonizes v. 23, which explains that the Lord did not give all the nations to Joshua, with v. 22. (For a grammatical parallel, where the infinitive construct of נָסָה [nasah] is subordinated to the perfect of עָזַב [’azav], see 2 Chr 32:31.)

[2:22]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text includes the phrase “by them,” but this is somewhat redundant in English and has been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:22]  ⁷ tn The words “I [i.e., the Lord] wanted to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:22]  ⁹ tn Or “way [of life].”

[2:22]  ¹⁰ tn “The words “marked out by” are interpretive.

[2:22]  ¹¹ tn Or “fathers.”

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “to know if they would hear the commands of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.”

[6:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:15]  ¹⁰ tn Note the switch to אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). Gideon seems aware that he is speaking to someone other than, and superior to, the messenger, whom he addressed as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”) in v. 13.

[6:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with what.”

[6:15]  ¹² tn Heb “in my father’s house.”

[8:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “good.”

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “brothers.”

[9:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to all the extended family of the house of the father of his mother.”

[11:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Did you not hate me and make me leave?”

[14:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he went up.”

[14:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”

[14:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “this was from the LORD.”

[14:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.”

[14:5]  ²¹ tc The MT reads, “Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When they approached…” Verse 6b states that Samson did not tell his parents about his encounter with the lion (vv. 5b-6a), but v. 5a gives the impression they would have seen the entire episode. One could assume that Samson separated from his parents prior to the lion’s attack, but the Hebrew text does not indicate this. It seems more likely that the words “with his father and his mother” were accidentally copied into the text, perhaps under the influence of v. 4a, where the same phrase appears. An original singular verb (“he approached”) may have been changed to the plural form (“they approached”) after the words “his father and his mother” were accidentally added to the text.

[14:5]  ²² tn Heb “and look, a young lion of the lions was roaring to meet him.”

[14:6]  ²³ tn Heb “rushed on.”

[14:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”

[15:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “saying, I said.” The first person form of אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) sometimes indicates self-reflection. The girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[15:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[15:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Is her younger sister not better than her? Let her [i.e., the younger sister] be yours instead of her [i.e., Samson’s ‘bride’]).”

[18:29]  ²⁷ tn Heb “They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who had been born to Israel.”

[19:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and his concubine.” The pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “was unfaithful to him.” Many have understood the Hebrew verb וַתִּזְנֶה (vattizneh) as being from זָנָה (zanah, “to be a prostitute”), but it may be derived from a root meaning “to be angry; to hate” attested in Akkadian (see HALOT 275 s.v. II זנה).

[19:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “went from him.”

[19:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he arose to go.”

[19:5]  ³² tn Heb “Sustain your heart [with] a bit of food.”

[19:6]  ³³ tn Heb “And they sat and ate, the two of them together, and they drank.”

[19:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Be willing and spend the night so that your heart might be good.”

[19:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Sustain your heart.” He is once more inviting him to stay for a meal.

[19:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Wait until the declining of the day.”