Judges 1:16

1:16 Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, ¹  located in the Negev. ²  They went and lived with the people of Judah. ³ 

Judges 1:33

1:33 The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. ⁴  They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites ⁵  living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.

Judges 6:11

Gideon Meets Some Visitors

6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger ⁶  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ⁷  was threshing ⁸  wheat in a winepress ⁹  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ¹⁰ 

Judges 7:3

7:3 Now, announce to the men, ¹¹  ‘Whoever is shaking with fear ¹²  may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” ¹³  Twenty-two thousand men ¹⁴  went home; ¹⁵  ten thousand remained.

Judges 7:15

Gideon Routs the Enemy

7:15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. ¹⁶  Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!”

Judges 11:17

11:17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please allow us ¹⁷  to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request. ¹⁸  Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate. ¹⁹  So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

Judges 17:3

17:3 When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate ²⁰  this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” ²¹ 

[1:16]  ¹ tc Part of the Greek ms tradition lacks the words “of Judah.”

[1:16]  ² tn Heb “[to] the Desert of Judah in the Negev, Arad.”

[1:16]  ³ tn The phrase “of Judah” is supplied here in the translation. Some ancient textual witnesses read, “They went and lived with the Amalekites.” This reading, however, is probably influenced by 1 Sam 15:6 (see also Num 24:20-21).

[1:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “the people living in Beth Shemesh or the people living in Beth Anath.”

[1:33]  ⁵ tn The term “Canaanites” is supplied here both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[6:11]  ⁷ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

[6:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.

[6:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “beating out.”

[6:11]  ¹⁰ sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.

[6:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Midian.”

[7:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”

[7:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”

[7:3]  ¹² tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading “and leave Mount Gilead” for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, “So Gideon tested them” (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).

[7:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)

[7:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “turned around, back.”

[7:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “he bowed down” or “worshiped.”

[11:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “me.” (Collective Israel is the speaker.)

[11:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “did not listen.”

[11:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Also to the king of Moab he sent, but he was unwilling.”

[17:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “dedicating, I dedicate.” In this case the emphatic infinitive absolute lends a mood of solemnity to the statement.

[17:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to the LORD from my hand for my son to make a carved image and cast metal image.” She cannot mean that she is now taking the money from her hand and giving it back to her son so he can make an image. Verses 4-6 indicate she took back the money and used a portion of it to hire a silversmith to make an idol for her son to use. The phrase “a carved image and cast metal image” is best taken as referring to two idols (see 18:17-18), even though the verb at the end of v. 4, וַיְהִי (vayÿhi, “and it was [in the house of Micah]”), is singular.