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 3:8

3:8 The Lord was furious with Israel ⁴  and turned them over to ⁵  King Cushan-Rishathaim ⁶  of Aram-Naharaim. They were Cushan-Rishathaim’s subjects ⁷  for eight years.

Judges 3:12

Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ⁸  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ⁹  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

Judges 4:11

4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away ¹⁰  from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He lived ¹¹  near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

Judges 6:8

6:8 he ¹²  sent a prophet ¹³  to the Israelites. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt ¹⁴  and took you out of that place of slavery. ¹⁵ 

Judges 11:8

11:8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true, ¹⁶  but now we pledge to you our loyalty. ¹⁷  Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader ¹⁸  of all who live in Gilead.” ¹⁹ 

Judges 11:13

11:13 The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel stole ²⁰  my land when they ²¹  came up from Egypt – from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan. ²²  Now return it ²³  peaceably!”

Judges 11:29

A Foolish Vow Spells Death for a Daughter

11:29 The Lord’s spirit empowered ²⁴  Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went ²⁵  to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. ²⁶ 

Judges 11:31

11:31 then whoever is the first to come through ²⁷  the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he ²⁸  will belong to the Lord and ²⁹  I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Judges 11:36

11:36 She said to him, “My father, since ³⁰  you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. ³¹  After all, the Lord vindicated you before ³²  your enemies, the Ammonites.”

Judges 13:8

13:8 Manoah prayed to the Lord, ³³  “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God ³⁴  to visit ³⁵  us again, so he can teach ³⁶  us how we should raise ³⁷  the child who will be born.”

Judges 18:25

18:25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t say another word to us, or some very angry men ³⁸  will attack you, and you and your family will die.” ³⁹ 

Judges 19:30

19:30 Everyone who saw the sight ⁴⁰  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ⁴¹  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ⁴²  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

Judges 20:26

20:26 So all the Israelites, the whole army, ⁴³  went up to ⁴⁴  Bethel. ⁴⁵  They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything ⁴⁶  that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace ⁴⁷  to the Lord.

Judges 20:48

20:48 The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns ⁴⁸  and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, ⁴⁹  the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path. ⁵⁰ 

Judges 21:23

21:23 The Benjaminites did as instructed. ⁵¹  They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. ⁵²  They went home ⁵³  to their own territory, ⁵⁴  rebuilt their cities, and settled down. ⁵⁵ 

[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).

[3:8]  ⁴ tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned (or raged) against Israel.”

[3:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”

[3:8]  ⁶ tn Or “Cushan the Doubly Wicked.”

[3:8]  ⁷ tn Or “they served Cushan-Rishathaim.”

[3:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).

[3:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”

[4:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “separated.”

[4:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “pitched his tent.”

[6:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a man, a prophet.” Hebrew idiom sometimes puts a generic term before a more specific designation.

[6:8]  ¹⁵ tc Some ancient witnesses read “from the land of Egypt.” מֵאֶרֶץ (me’erets, “from the land [of]”) could have been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton (note the following מִמִּצְרַיִם [mimmitsrayim, “from Egypt”]).

[6:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”

[11:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “therefore”; “even so.” For MT לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) the LXX has an opposite reading, “not so,” which seems to be based on the Hebrew words לֹא כֵן (lo’ khen).

[11:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “we have returned to you.” For another example of שׁוּב אֶל (shuv ’el) in the sense of “give allegiance to,” see 1 Kgs 12:27b.

[11:8]  ¹⁸ sn Then you will become the leader. The leaders of Gilead now use the word רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “head, leader”), the same term that appeared in their original, general offer (see 10:18). In their initial offer to Jephthah they had simply invited him to be their קָצִין (qatsin, “commander”; v. 6). When he resists they must offer him a more attractive reward – rulership over the region. See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 198.

[11:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “leader of us and all who live in Gilead.”

[11:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “took”; or “seized.”

[11:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he” (a collective singular).

[11:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan.” The word “River” has been supplied in the translation with “Arnon” and “Jabbok,” because these are less familiar to modern readers than the Jordan.

[11:13]  ²² tc The translation assumes a singular suffix (“[return] it”); the Hebrew text has a plural suffix (“[return] them”), which, if retained, might refer to the cities of the land.

[11:29]  ²² tn Heb “was on.”

[11:29]  ²³ tn Heb “passed through.”

[11:29]  ²⁴ tn Heb “From Mizpah in Gilead he passed through [to] the Ammonites.”

[11:31]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotse’, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.

[11:31]  ²⁶ tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.

[11:31]  ²⁷ tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the Lord’s service, but if an animal comes through the doors, he will offer it up as a sacrifice. However, it is far more likely that the Hebrew construction (vav [ו] + perfect) specifies how the subject will become the Lord’s, that is, by being offered up as a sacrifice. For similar constructions, where the apodosis of a conditional sentence has at least two perfects (each with vav) in sequence, see Gen 34:15-16; Exod 18:16.

[11:36]  ²⁸ tn The conjunction “since” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:36]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to [what] went out from your mouth.”

[11:36]  ³⁰ tn Or “has given you vengeance against.”

[13:8]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:8]  ³² tn Heb “the man of God.”

[13:8]  ³³ tn Heb “come to.”

[13:8]  ³⁴ tc The LXX has “enlighten,” understanding the Hebrew to read וִיאִירֵנוּ (vi’irenu, “to give light”) rather than the reading of the MT, וְיוֹרֵנוּ (vÿyorenu, “to teach”).

[13:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “what we should do for.”

[18:25]  ³⁴ tn Heb “bitter in spirit.” This phrase is used in 2 Sam 17:8 of David and his warriors, who are compared to a bear robbed of her cubs.

[18:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and you will gather up your life and the life of your house.”

[19:30]  ³⁷ tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[19:30]  ³⁸ tn Heb “from the day.”

[19:30]  ³⁹ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the following additional words: “And he instructed the men whom he sent out, ‘Thus you will say to every male Israelite: “There has never been anything like this from the day the Israelites left Egypt till the present day.”’”

[20:26]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and all the people.”

[20:26]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “went up and came [to].”

[20:26]  ⁴² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[20:26]  ⁴³ tn Traditionally, “fasted.”

[20:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “peace offerings.”

[20:48]  ⁴³ tn Heb “to the sons of Benjamin.”

[20:48]  ⁴⁴ tc The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים (me’ir mÿtim, “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם (me’ir mÿtom, “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).

[20:48]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Also all the cities that were found they set on fire.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “did so.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “went and returned.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “inheritance.”

[21:23]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “and lived in them.”