Judges 10:6-9

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 

[10:6]  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.”