Judges 3:12

Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ²  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

Judges 7:2

7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. ³  Israel might brag, ⁴  ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ ⁵ 

Judges 13:5

13:5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. ⁶  You must never cut his hair, ⁷  for the child will be dedicated to God ⁸  from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power ⁹  of the Philistines.”

Judges 16:24

16:24 When the people saw him, ¹⁰  they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!” ¹¹ 

[3:12]  ¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).

[3:12]  ² tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “the people who are with you are too numerous for me to give Midian into their hand.”

[7:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “might glorify itself against me.”

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “my hand has delivered me.”

[13:5]  ⁵ tn Another option is to translate, “you are already pregnant and will have a son.” The earlier reference to her being infertile (v. 3) suggests that her conception is still future, but it is possible that the earlier statement only reflects her perspective (as far as she is concerned, she is infertile). According to this interpretation, in v. 5 the angel reveals the truth to her – actually she has recently conceived and is now pregnant (see the translation in R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 217). Usage favors this interpretation. The predicate adjective הָרָה (harah, “[be/become] pregnant”) elsewhere has a past (1 Sam 4:19) or present (Gen 16:11; 38:25; 2 Sam 11:5) translation value. (The usage in Isa 7:14 is debated, but a present translation is definitely possible there.) A final, but less likely possibility, is that she miraculously conceived during the angel’s speech, sometime between his statements recorded in vv. 3 and 5.

[13:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “a razor should not go up on his head.”

[13:5]  ⁷ tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

[13:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “hand.”

[16:24]  ⁷ tn Most interpret this as a reference to Samson, but this seems premature, since v. 25 suggests he was not yet standing before them. Consequently some prefer to see this statement as displaced and move it to v. 25 (see C. F. Burney, Judges, 387). It seems more likely that the pronoun refers to an image of Dagon.

[16:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”