Judges 10:6-16

The Lord’s Patience Runs Short

10:6 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  They worshiped ²  the Baals and the Ashtars, ³  as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, ⁴  Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. ⁵  They abandoned the Lord and did not worship ⁶  him. 10:7 The Lord was furious with Israel ⁷  and turned them over to ⁸  the Philistines and Ammonites. 10:8 They ruthlessly oppressed ⁹  the Israelites that eighteenth year ¹⁰  – that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead. 10:9 The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight with Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. ¹¹  Israel suffered greatly. ¹² 

10:10 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: “We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped ¹³  the Baals.” 10:11 The Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 10:12 the Sidonians, Amalek, and Midian ¹⁴  when they oppressed you? ¹⁵  You cried out for help to me, and I delivered you from their power. ¹⁶  10:13 But since you abandoned me and worshiped ¹⁷  other gods, I will not deliver you again. 10:14 Go and cry for help to the gods you have chosen! Let them deliver you from trouble!” ¹⁸  10:15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, ¹⁹  but deliver us today!” ²⁰  10:16 They threw away the foreign gods they owned ²¹  and worshiped ²²  the Lord. Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much. ²³ 

[10:6]  ¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

[10:6]  ² tn Or “served;” or “followed.”

[10:6]  ³ sn The Ashtars were local manifestations of the goddess Ashtar (i.e., Astarte).

[10:6]  ⁴ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[10:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.”

[10:6]  ⁶ tn Or “serve”; or “follow.”

[10:7]  ⁷ tn Or “the Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”

[10:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”

[10:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “shattered and crushed.” The repetition of similar sounding synonyms (רָעַץ [ra’ats] and רָצַץ [ratsats]) is for emphasis; רָצַץ appears in the Polel, adding further emphasis to the affirmation.

[10:8]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה (shemoneh ’esreh shanah) could be translated “eighteen years,” but this would be difficult after the reference to “that year.” It is possible that v. 8b is parenthetical, referring to an eighteen year long period of oppression east of the Jordan which culminated in hostilities against all Israel (including Judah, see v. 9) in the eighteenth year. It is simpler to translate the phrase as an ordinal number, though the context does not provide the point of reference. (See Gen 14:4-5 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 191-92.) In this case, the following statement specifies which “Israelites” are in view.

[10:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the house of Ephraim.”

[10:9]  ¹² tn Or “Israel experienced great distress.” Perhaps here the verb has the nuance “hemmed in.”

[10:10]  ¹³ tn Or “served”; or “followed.”

[10:12]  ¹⁴ tc The translation follows the LXX which reads “Midian”; the Hebrew text has “Maon.”

[10:12]  ¹⁵ tn The words “Did I not deliver you” are interpretive. The Hebrew text simply reads, “Is it not from Egypt…when they oppressed you?” Perhaps the incomplete sentence reflects the Lord’s frustration.

[10:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “hand.”

[10:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “served”; or “followed.”

[10:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in your time of trouble.”

[10:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “according to all whatever is good in your eyes.”

[10:15]  ²⁰ sn You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today. The request seems contradictory, but it can be explained in one of two ways. They may be asking for relief from their enemies and direct discipline from God’s hand. Or they may mean, “In the future you can do whatever you like to us, but give us relief from what we’re suffering right now.”

[10:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “from their midst.”

[10:16]  ²² tn Or “served”; or “followed.”

[10:16]  ²³ tn Heb “And his spirit grew short [i.e., impatient] with the suffering of Israel.” The Hebrew noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) also appears as the subject of the verb קָצַר (qatsar) in Num 21:4 (the Israelites grow impatient wandering in the wilderness), Judg 16:16 (Samson grows impatient with Delilah’s constant nagging), and Zech 11:8 (Zechariah grows impatient with the three negligent “shepherds”).