Judges 18:4-8

18:4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, ¹  “He hired me and I became his priest.” 18:5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, ²  so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” ³  18:6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence. ⁴  The Lord will be with you on your mission.” ⁵ 

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ⁶  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ⁷  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ⁸  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ⁹  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ¹⁰  18:8 When the Danites returned to their tribe ¹¹  in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen ¹²  asked them, “How did it go?” ¹³ 

[18:4]  ¹ tn Heb “He said to them, ‘Such and such Micah has done for me.’” Though the statement is introduced and presented, at least in part, as a direct quotation (note especially “for me”), the phrase “such and such” appears to be the narrator’s condensed version of what the Levite really said.

[18:5]  ² tn Heb “Ask God.”

[18:5]  ³ tn Heb “so we can know if our way on which we are going will be successful.”

[18:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “in peace.”

[18:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “In front of the LORD is your way in which you are going.”

[18:7]  ⁶ tn Or “went.”

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

[18:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

[18:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

[18:7]  ¹⁰ 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.

[18:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They came to their brothers.”

[18:8]  ¹² tn Heb “brothers.”

[18:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “What you?”