Judges 3:19

3:19 But he went back ¹  once he reached ²  the carved images ³  at Gilgal. He said to Eglon, ⁴  “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon ⁵  said, “Be quiet!” ⁶  All his attendants left.

Judges 9:36

9:36 Gaal saw the men ⁷  and said to Zebul, “Look, men are coming down from the tops of the hills.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows on the hills – it just looks like men.” ⁸ 

Judges 14:3

14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our ⁹  people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.” ¹⁰  But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, ¹¹  because she is the right one for me.” ¹² 

[3:19]  ¹ tn Or “returned” (i.e., to Eglon’s palace).

[3:19]  ² tn The words “when he reached” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text simply reads “from.”

[3:19]  ³ tn Or “idols.”

[3:19]  ⁴ tn The words “to Eglon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:19]  ⁶ tn Or “Hush!”

[9:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “the people” (also in vv. 38, 43, 48). These were warriors, so “men” has been used in the translation, since in ancient Israelite culture soldiers would have been exclusively males.

[9:36]  ⁸ tn Heb “the shadow on the hills you are seeing, like men.”

[14:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading.

[14:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?”

[14:3]  ¹⁵ tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357.

[14:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”