Judges 2:14

2:14 The Lord was furious with Israel ¹  and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. ²  He turned them over to ³  their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. ⁴ 

Judges 2:18

2:18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people ⁵  from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them ⁶  when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. ⁷ 

Judges 4:14-15

4:14 Deborah said to Barak, “Spring into action, ⁸  for this is the day the Lord is handing Sisera over to you! ⁹  Has the Lord not taken the lead?” ¹⁰  Barak quickly went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 4:15 The Lord routed ¹¹  Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. ¹²  Sisera jumped out of ¹³  his chariot and ran away on foot.

Judges 6:2

6:2 The Midianites ¹⁴  overwhelmed Israel. ¹⁵  Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters ¹⁶  for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Judges 6:11

Gideon Meets Some Visitors

6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹⁷  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ¹⁸  was threshing ¹⁹  wheat in a winepress ²⁰  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ²¹ 

Judges 11:9

11:9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right! ²²  If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, ²³  I will be your leader.” ²⁴ 

Judges 11:11

11:11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement ²⁵  before the Lord in Mizpah.

Judges 11:33

11:33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith – twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! ²⁶  The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites. ²⁷ 

Judges 16:3

16:3 Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. ²⁸  He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. ²⁹  He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron. ³⁰ 

Judges 16:25

16:25 When they really started celebrating, ³¹  they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. ³²  They made him stand between two pillars.

Judges 20:23

20:23 The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we ³³  again march out to fight ³⁴  the Benjaminites, our brothers?” ³⁵  The Lord said, “Attack them!” ³⁶ 

Judges 20:28

20:28 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord ³⁷  in those days), “Should we ³⁸  once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, ³⁹  or should we ⁴⁰  quit?” The Lord said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them ⁴¹  over to you.”

Judges 20:35

20:35 The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. ⁴² 

Judges 20:39

20:39 the Israelites counterattacked. ⁴³  Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; ⁴⁴  they struck down ⁴⁵  about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”

[2:14]  ¹ tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”

[2:14]  ² tn Heb “robbers who robbed them.” (The verb שָׁסָה [shasah] appears twice in the verse.)

[2:14]  ³ tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”

[2:14]  ⁴ tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[2:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁶ tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “the ones oppressing them and afflicting them.” The synonyms “oppressing” and “afflicting” are joined together in the translation as “harsh oppressors” to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.

[4:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “Arise!”

[4:14]  ¹⁰ tn The verb form (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”

[4:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Has the Lord not gone out before you?”

[4:15]  ¹³ tn Or “caused to panic.”

[4:15]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “before Barak.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[4:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “got down from.”

[6:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

[6:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.”

[6:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or possibly “secret storage places.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

[6:11]  ²¹ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

[6:11]  ²² tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.

[6:11]  ²³ tn Heb “beating out.”

[6:11]  ²⁴ sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.

[6:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Midian.”

[11:9]  ²⁵ tn “All right” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “places them before me.”

[11:9]  ²⁷ tn Some translate the final statement as a question, “will I really be your leader?” An affirmative sentence is preferable. Jephthah is repeating the terms of the agreement in an official manner. In v. 10 the leaders legally agree to these terms.

[11:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “spoke all his words.” This probably refers to the “words” recorded in v. 9. Jephthah repeats the terms of the agreement at the Lord’s sanctuary, perhaps to ratify the contract or to emphasize the Gileadites’ obligation to keep their part of the bargain. Another option is to translate, “Jephthah conducted business before the Lord in Mizpah.” In this case, the statement is a general reference to the way Jephthah ruled. He recognized the Lord’s authority and made his decisions before the Lord.

[11:33]  ³³ tn Heb “with a very great slaughter.”

[11:33]  ³⁴ tn Heb “The Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.”

[16:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “And Samson lay until the middle of the night and arose in the middle of the night.”

[16:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “with the bar.”

[16:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “which is upon the face of Hebron.”

[16:25]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “When their heart was good.”

[16:25]  ⁴² tn Heb “before them.”

[20:23]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “approach for battle.”

[20:23]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).

[20:23]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Go up against him” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “standing before him.”

[20:28]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ⁵² tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ⁵³ tn Heb “him” (collective singular).

[20:35]  ⁵³ tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”

[20:39]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “turned in the battle.”

[20:39]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “And Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel.”

[20:39]  ⁵⁹ tn The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.