Judges 18:28-31

18:28 No one came to the rescue because the city ¹  was far from Sidon ²  and they had no dealings with anyone. ³  The city ⁴  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁵  rebuilt the city and occupied it. 18:29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. ⁶  But the city’s name used to be Laish. 18:30 The Danites worshiped ⁷  the carved image. Jonathan, descendant ⁸  of Gershom, son of Moses, ⁹  and his descendants ¹⁰  served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 18:31 They worshiped ¹¹  Micah’s carved image ¹²  the whole time God’s authorized shrine ¹³  was in Shiloh.

[18:28]  ¹ 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]  ² map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[18:28]  ³ tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

[18:28]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “erected for themselves.”

[18:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “son.”

[18:30]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

[18:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they set up for themselves.”

[18:31]  ¹² tn Heb “the carved image that Micah had made.”

[18:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “the house of God.”