Judges 18:3

18:3 As they approached ¹  Micah’s house, they recognized the accent ²  of the young Levite. So they stopped ³  there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁴ 

Judges 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ⁵  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ⁶  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ⁷  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ⁸  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁹ 

[18:3]  ¹ tn Or “When they were near.”

[18:3]  ² tn Heb “voice.” This probably means that “his speech was Judahite [i.e., southern] like their own, not Israelite [i.e., northern]” (R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 263).

[18:3]  ³ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[18:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”

[18:7]  ⁵ tn Or “went.”

[18:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

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

[18:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

[18:7]  ⁹ 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.