Judges 1:8

1:8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They put the sword to it and set the city on fire.

Judges 1:25

1:25 He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely.

Judges 3:21

3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ¹  belly.

Judges 5:15

5:15 Issachar’s leaders were with Deborah,

the men of Issachar ²  supported ³  Barak;

into the valley they were sent under Barak’s command. ⁴ 

Among the clans of Reuben there was intense ⁵  heart searching. ⁶ 

Judges 5:26

5:26 Her left ⁷  hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.

She “hammered” ⁸  Sisera,

she shattered his skull, ⁹ 

she smashed his head, ¹⁰ 

she drove the tent peg through his temple. ¹¹ 

Judges 6:14

6:14 Then the Lord himself ¹²  turned to him and said, “You have the strength. ¹³  Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! ¹⁴  Have I not sent you?”

Judges 9:23

9:23 God sent a spirit to stir up hostility ¹⁵  between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. He made the leaders of Shechem disloyal ¹⁶  to Abimelech.

Judges 9:31

9:31 He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ¹⁷  reporting, “Beware! ¹⁸  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ¹⁹  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ²⁰ 

Judges 11:12

Jephthah Gives a History Lesson

11:12 Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, “Why have ²¹  you come against me to attack my land?”

Judges 11:19

11:19 Israel sent messengers to King Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Please allow us to pass through your land to our land.” ²² 

Judges 11:38

11:38 He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave ²³  for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills. ²⁴ 

Judges 15:5

15:5 He lit the torches ²⁵  and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

Judges 19:29

19:29 When he got home, he took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces. ²⁶  Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel. ²⁷ 

Judges 20:6

20:6 I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces ²⁸  throughout the territory occupied by Israel, ²⁹  because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity ³⁰  in Israel.

Judges 20:12

20:12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe ³¹  of Benjamin, saying, “How could such a wicked thing take place? ³² 

Judges 21:13

21:13 The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed. ³³ 

[3:21]  ¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:15]  ¹ tn Heb “Issachar.” The words “the men of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:15]  ² tn Or “was true to.”

[5:15]  ³ tn Heb “at his feet.”

[5:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “great was.”

[5:15]  ⁵ tc The great majority of Hebrew mss have “resolves of heart,” but a few mss read “searchings of heart,” which is preferable in light of v. 16.

[5:26]  ¹ tn The adjective “left” is interpretive, based on the context. Note that the next line pictures Jael holding the hammer with her right hand.

[5:26]  ² tn The verb used here is from the same root as the noun “hammer” in the preceding line.

[5:26]  ³ tn Or “head.”

[5:26]  ⁴ tn The phrase “his head” (an implied direct object) is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “she pierced his temple.”

[6:14]  ¹ sn Some interpreters equate the Lord and the messenger in this story, but they are more likely distinct. In vv. 22-23 the Lord and Gideon continue to carry on a conversation after the messenger has vanished (v. 21).

[6:14]  ² tn Heb “Go in this strength of yours.”

[6:14]  ³ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

[9:23]  ¹ tn Heb “an evil spirit.” A nonphysical, spirit being is in view, like the one who volunteered to deceive Ahab (1 Kgs 22:21). The traditional translation, “evil spirit,” implies the being is inherently wicked, perhaps even demonic, but this is not necessarily the case. The Hebrew adjective רָעַה (ra’ah) can have a nonethical sense, “harmful; dangerous; calamitous.” When modifying רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) it may simply indicate that the being in view causes harm to the object of God’s judgment. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 253) here refers to a “mischief-making spirit.”

[9:23]  ² tn Heb “The leaders of Shechem were disloyal.” The words “he made” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:31]  ¹ tn The form בְּתָרְמָה (bÿtarmah) in the Hebrew text, which occurs only here, has traditionally been understood to mean “secretly” or “with deception.” If this is correct, it is derived from II רָמָה (ramah, “to deceive”). Some interpreters object, pointing out that this would imply Zebul was trying to deceive Abimelech, which is clearly not the case in this context. But this objection is unwarranted. If retained, the phrase would refer instead to deceptive measures used by Zebul to avoid the suspicion of Gaal when he dispatched the messengers from Shechem. The present translation assumes an emendation to “in Arumah” (בָּארוּמָה, ba’rumah), a site mentioned in v. 41 as the headquarters of Abimelech. Confusion of alef and tav in archaic Hebrew script, while uncommon, is certainly not unimaginable.

[9:31]  ² tn Heb “Look!”

[9:31]  ³ tn The participle, as used here, suggests Gaal and his brothers are in the process of arriving, but the preceding verses imply they have already settled in. Perhaps Zebul uses understatement to avoid the appearance of negligence on his part. After all, if he made the situation sound too bad, Abimelech, when he was informed, might ask why he had allowed this rebellion to reach such a stage.

[9:31]  ⁴ tn The words “to rebel” are interpretive. The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb צוּר (tsur) is unclear here. It is best to take it in the sense of “to instigate; to incite; to provoke” (see Deut 2:9, 19 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 178).

[11:12]  ¹ tn Heb “What to me and to you that…?”

[11:19]  ¹ tn Heb “to my place.”

[11:38]  ¹ tn Heb “he sent her.”

[11:38]  ² tn Heb “on the hills.” The words “as she walked” are supplied.

[15:5]  ¹ tn Heb “He set fire to the torches.”

[19:29]  ¹ tn Heb “he carved her up by her bones into twelve pieces.”

[19:29]  ² tn Heb “and he sent her through all the territory of Israel.”

[20:6]  ¹ tn Heb “her”; the referent is more naturally stated in English as “the pieces.”

[20:6]  ² tn Heb “throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel.”

[20:6]  ³ tn Heb “a wicked and disgraceful [thing].”

[20:12]  ¹ tc The MT reads the plural, but surely the singular (which is supported by the LXX and Vulgate) is preferable here.

[20:12]  ² tn Heb “What is this wicked thing which happened among you?”

[21:13]  ¹ tn Heb “And all the assembly sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the cliff of Rimmon and they proclaimed to them peace.”