Judges 18:26-31

18:26 The Danites went on their way; when Micah realized ¹  they were too strong to resist, ²  he turned around and went home.

18:27 Now the Danites ³  took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. ⁴  18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city ⁵  was far from Sidon ⁶  and they had no dealings with anyone. ⁷  The city ⁸  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁹  rebuilt the city and occupied it. 18:29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. ¹⁰  But the city’s name used to be Laish. 18:30 The Danites worshiped ¹¹  the carved image. Jonathan, descendant ¹²  of Gershom, son of Moses, ¹³  and his descendants ¹⁴  served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 18:31 They worshiped ¹⁵  Micah’s carved image ¹⁶  the whole time God’s authorized shrine ¹⁷  was in Shiloh.

[18:26]  ¹ tn Heb “saw.”

[18:26]  ² tn Heb “they were stronger than he.”

[18:27]  ³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:27]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew adds “with fire.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.

[18:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

[18:28]  ⁶ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[18:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

[18:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.

[18:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who had been born to Israel.”

[18:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “erected for themselves.”

[18:30]  ¹² tn Heb “son.”

[18:30]  ¹³ tc Several ancient textual witnesses, including some LXX mss and the Vulgate, support the reading “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה, mosheh) here. Many Hebrew mss have a nun (נ) suspended above the name between the first two letters (מנשׁה), suggesting the name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, mÿnasheh). This is probably a scribal attempt to protect Moses’ reputation. For discussion, see G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 401-2.

[18:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sons.”

[18:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they set up for themselves.”

[18:31]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the carved image that Micah had made.”

[18:31]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the house of God.”