Judges 1:33

1:33 The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. ¹  They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites ²  living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.

Judges 2:12

2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ³  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ⁴  them and made the Lord angry.

Judges 2:17-18

2:17 But they did not obey ⁵  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ⁶  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ⁷  their ancestors ⁸  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁹  2:18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people ¹⁰  from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them ¹¹  when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. ¹² 

Judges 3:15

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ¹³  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ¹⁴  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ¹⁵ 

Judges 6:2

6:2 The Midianites ¹⁶  overwhelmed Israel. ¹⁷  Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters ¹⁸  for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Judges 6:8

6:8 he ¹⁹  sent a prophet ²⁰  to the Israelites. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt ²¹  and took you out of that place of slavery. ²² 

Judges 9:7

Jotham’s Parable

9:7 When Jotham heard the news, ²³  he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below, ²⁴  “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!

Judges 14:12

14:12 Samson said to them, “I will give you a riddle. If you really can solve it during the seven days the party lasts, ²⁵  I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets ²⁶  of clothes.

Judges 14:17-18

14:17 She cried on his shoulder ²⁷  until the party was almost over. ²⁸  Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. ²⁹  Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle. ³⁰  14:18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

He said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer, ³¹ 

you would not have solved my riddle!”

Judges 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ³²  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ³³  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ³⁴  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ³⁵  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ³⁶ 

Judges 18:28

18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city ³⁷  was far from Sidon ³⁸  and they had no dealings with anyone. ³⁹  The city ⁴⁰  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁴¹  rebuilt the city and occupied it.

Judges 18:30

18:30 The Danites worshiped ⁴²  the carved image. Jonathan, descendant ⁴³  of Gershom, son of Moses, ⁴⁴  and his descendants ⁴⁵  served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile.

Judges 19:24

19:24 Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s ⁴⁶  concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. ⁴⁷  But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!”

Judges 21:22

21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, ⁴⁸  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ⁴⁹  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ⁵⁰  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ⁵¹  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ⁵² 

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

[1:33]  ² tn The term “Canaanites” is supplied here both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[2:12]  ³ tn Or “fathers.”

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).

[2:17]  ⁵ tn Or “did not listen to.”

[2:17]  ⁶ tn Or “bowed before.”

[2:17]  ⁷ tn Or “way [of life].”

[2:17]  ⁸ tn Or “fathers.”

[2:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”

[2:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁸ tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “the ones oppressing them and afflicting them.” The synonyms “oppressing” and “afflicting” are joined together in the translation as “harsh oppressors” to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.

[3:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:15]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase, which refers to Ehud, literally reads “bound/restricted in the right hand,” apparently a Hebrew idiom for a left-handed person. See Judg 20:16, where 700 Benjaminites are described in this way. Perhaps the Benjaminites purposely trained several of their young men to be left-handed warriors by restricting the use of the right hand from an early age so the left hand would become dominant. Left-handed men would have a distinct military advantage, especially when attacking city gates. See B. Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BRev 4 (1988): 35.

[3:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

[6:2]  ¹² tn Heb “The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.”

[6:2]  ¹³ tn Or possibly “secret storage places.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

[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.”

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And they reported to Jotham.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “He lifted his voice and called and said to them.”

[14:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “If you really can tell it to me [during] the seven days of the feast and you find [its answer].”

[14:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “changes.”

[14:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “on him.”

[14:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.

[14:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “because she forced him.”

[14:17]  ²² tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”

[14:18]  ²¹ sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.

[18:7]  ²³ tn Or “went.”

[18:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

[18:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

[18:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

[18:7]  ²⁷ tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.

[18:28]  ²⁵ tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

[18:28]  ²⁶ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[18:28]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

[18:28]  ²⁸ tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

[18:28]  ²⁹ tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:30]  ²⁷ tn Heb “erected for themselves.”

[18:30]  ²⁸ tn Heb “son.”

[18:30]  ²⁹ tc Several ancient textual witnesses, including some LXX mss and the Vulgate, support the reading “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה, mosheh) here. Many Hebrew mss have a nun (נ) suspended above the name between the first two letters (מנשׁה), suggesting the name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, mÿnasheh). This is probably a scribal attempt to protect Moses’ reputation. For discussion, see G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 401-2.

[18:30]  ³⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

[19:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the visiting Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:24]  ³⁰ tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”

[21:22]  ³¹ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

[21:22]  ³² tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:22]  ³³ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

[21:22]  ³⁴ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

[21:22]  ³⁵ tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.