Judges 1:35

1:35 The Amorites managed ¹  to remain in Har Heres, ²  Aijalon, and Shaalbim. Whenever the tribe of Joseph was strong militarily, ³  the Amorites were forced to do hard labor.

Judges 3:16

3:16 Ehud made himself a sword – it had two edges and was eighteen inches long. ⁴  He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh.

Judges 4:13

4:13 he ⁵  ordered ⁶  all his chariotry – nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels – and all the troops he had with him to go from Harosheth-Haggoyim to the River Kishon.

Judges 6:2

6:2 The Midianites ⁷  overwhelmed Israel. ⁸  Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters ⁹  for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Judges 6:17

6:17 Gideon ¹⁰  said to him, “If you really are pleased with me, ¹¹  then give me ¹²  a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me.

Judges 6:24

6:24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” ¹³  To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 6:29

6:29 They said to one another, ¹⁴  “Who did this?” ¹⁵  They investigated the matter thoroughly ¹⁶  and concluded ¹⁷  that Gideon son of Joash had done it.

Judges 6:32

6:32 That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹⁸  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

Judges 8:2

8:2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes ¹⁹  are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! ²⁰ 

Judges 11:9

11:9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right! ²¹  If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, ²²  I will be your leader.” ²³ 

Judges 13:11-12

13:11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he met ²⁴  the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” ²⁵  He said, “Yes.” ²⁶  13:12 Manoah said, “Now, when your announcement comes true, ²⁷  how should the child be raised and what should he do?” ²⁸ 

Judges 14:2

14:2 When he got home, ²⁹  he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. ³⁰  Now get her for my wife.”

Judges 15:8

15:8 He struck them down and defeated them. ³¹  Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.

Judges 20:34-35

20:34 Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. ³²  But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. ³³  20:35 The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. ³⁴ 

Judges 21:11

21:11 Do this: ³⁵  exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. ³⁶  But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. ³⁷ 

Judges 21:16

21:16 The leaders ³⁸  of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? ³⁹  After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out.

[1:35]  ¹ tn Or “were determined.”

[1:35]  ² tn Or “Mount Heres”; the term הַר (har) means “mount” or “mountain” in Hebrew.

[1:35]  ³ tn Heb “Whenever the hand of the tribe of Joseph was heavy.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term גֹּמֶד (gomed) denotes a unit of linear measure, perhaps a cubit (the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger – approximately 18 inches [45 cm]). Some suggest it is equivalent to the short cubit (the distance between the elbow and the knuckles of the clenched fist – approximately 13 inches [33 cm]) or to the span (the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger in a spread hand – approximately 9 inches [23 cm]). See BDB 167 s.v.; HALOT 196 s.v.; B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 142.

[4:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “Sisera.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[4:13]  ⁸ tn Or “summoned.”

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.”

[6:2]  ¹² tn Or possibly “secret storage places.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

[6:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “If I have found favor in your eyes.”

[6:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “perform for me.”

[6:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “The Lord is peace.” Gideon’s name for the altar plays on the Lord’s reassuring words to him, “Peace to you.”

[6:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “each one to his neighbor.”

[6:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “this thing.”

[6:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “they inquired and searched.” The synonyms are joined to emphasize the care with which they conducted their inquiry.

[6:29]  ²² tn Heb “and said.” Perhaps the plural subject is indefinite. If so, it could be translated, “they were told.”

[6:32]  ²² tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub-Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight!”

[8:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “gleanings.”

[8:2]  ²⁶ sn Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest. Gideon employs an agricultural metaphor. He argues that Ephraim’s mopping up operations, though seemingly like the inferior grapes which are missed initially by the harvesters or left for the poor, are actually more noteworthy than the military efforts of Gideon’s family.

[11:9]  ²⁸ tn “All right” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “places them before me.”

[11:9]  ³⁰ tn Some translate the final statement as a question, “will I really be your leader?” An affirmative sentence is preferable. Jephthah is repeating the terms of the agreement in an official manner. In v. 10 the leaders legally agree to these terms.

[13:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “came to.”

[13:11]  ³² tn Heb “the woman.”

[13:11]  ³³ tn Heb “I [am].”

[13:12]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Now, [when] your word comes [to pass].”

[13:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “what will be the child’s rule [i.e., way of life] and his work?”

[14:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and he went up.”

[14:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”

[15:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “He struck them, calf on thigh, [with] a great slaughter.” The precise meaning of the phrase “calf on thigh” is uncertain.

[20:34]  ⁴³ tn Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”

[20:34]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”

[20:35]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”

[21:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”

[21:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.”

[21:11]  ⁵¹ tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (ve’et-habbÿtulot tÿkhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vÿ’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.

[21:16]  ⁵² tn Or “elders.”

[21:16]  ⁵³ tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”