Judges 16:24

16:24 When the people saw him, ¹  they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!” ² 

Judges 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ³  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ⁴  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ⁵  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ⁶  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁷ 

[16:24]  ¹ tn Most interpret this as a reference to Samson, but this seems premature, since v. 25 suggests he was not yet standing before them. Consequently some prefer to see this statement as displaced and move it to v. 25 (see C. F. Burney, Judges, 387). It seems more likely that the pronoun refers to an image of Dagon.

[16:24]  ² tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”

[18:7]  ³ tn Or “went.”

[18:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

[18:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

[18:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

[18:7]  ⁷ 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.