Judges 4:6

4:6 She summoned ¹  Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “Is it not true that the Lord God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun!

Judges 7:3

7:3 Now, announce to the men, ²  ‘Whoever is shaking with fear ³  may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” ⁴  Twenty-two thousand men ⁵  went home; ⁶  ten thousand remained.

Judges 8:1

8:1 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us ⁷  when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him.

Judges 9:7

Jotham’s Parable

9:7 When Jotham heard the news, ⁸  he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below, ⁹  “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!

Judges 9:54

9:54 He quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons, ¹⁰  “Draw your sword and kill me, so they will not say, ¹¹  ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man stabbed him and he died.

Judges 10:4

10:4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities. To this day these towns are called Havvoth Jair ¹²  – they are in the land of Gilead. ¹³ 

Judges 12:1

Civil Strife Mars the Victory

12:1 The Ephraimites assembled ¹⁴  and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go and fight ¹⁵  with the Ammonites without asking ¹⁶  us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!” ¹⁷ 

Judges 14:15

14:15 On the fourth ¹⁸  day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. ¹⁹  If you refuse, ²⁰  we will burn up ²¹  you and your father’s family. ²²  Did you invite us here ²³  to make us poor?” ²⁴ 

Judges 15:18-19

15:18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant ²⁵  this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?” ²⁶  15:19 So God split open the basin ²⁷  at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength ²⁸  was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring ²⁹  En Hakkore. ³⁰  It remains in Lehi to this very day.

Judges 16:18

16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, ³¹  she sent for ³²  the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me ³³  his secret.” ³⁴  So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands.

Judges 16:28

16:28 Samson called to the Lord, “O Master, Lord, ³⁵  remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge ³⁶  against the Philistines for my two eyes!”

Judges 18:12

18:12 They went up and camped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (To this day that place is called Camp of Dan. ³⁷  It is west ³⁸  of Kiriath Jearim.)

[4:6]  ¹ tn Heb “sent and summoned.”

[7:3]  ² tn Heb “call into the ears of the people.”

[7:3]  ³ tn Heb “afraid and shaking.”

[7:3]  ⁴ tc Many interpreters reject the MT reading “and leave Mount Gilead” for geographical reasons. A possible alternative, involving rather radical emendation of the Hebrew text, would be, “So Gideon tested them” (i.e., thinned the ranks in this manner).

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because warriors are in view, and in ancient Israelite culture these would be only males. (This is also the case in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)

[7:3]  ⁶ tn Or “turned around, back.”

[8:1]  ³ tn Heb “by not summoning us.”

[9:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “And they reported to Jotham.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

[9:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “He lifted his voice and called and said to them.”

[9:54]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text adds, “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:54]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds, “concerning me.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[10:4]  ⁶ sn The name Habboth Jair means “tent villages of Jair” in Hebrew.

[10:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “they call them Havvoth Jair to this day – which are in the land of Gilead.”

[12:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “the men of Ephraim were summoned [or “were mustered”].”

[12:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “cross over to fight.”

[12:1]  ⁹ tn Or “calling”; or “summoning.”

[12:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Your house we will burn over you with fire.”

[14:15]  ⁸ tc The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי (rÿvi’i, “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי (shÿvi’i, “seventh”). Some ancient textual witnesses (e.g., LXX and the Syriac Peshitta) read “fourth,” here, which certainly harmonizes better with the preceding verse (cf. “for three days”) and with v. 17. Another option is to change שְׁלֹשֶׁת (shÿloshet, “three”) at the end of v. 14 to שֵׁשֶׁת (sheshet, “six”), but the resulting scenario does not account as well for v. 17, which implies the bride had been hounding Samson for more than one day.

[14:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”

[14:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lest.”

[14:15]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement: “burn up with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:15]  ¹² tn Heb “house.”

[14:15]  ¹³ tc The translation assumes the Hebrew form הֲלֹם (halom, “here,” attested in five Hebrew mss and supported by the Targum), instead of the inexplicable הֲלֹא (halo’), a negative particle with interrogative particle prefixed to it.

[14:15]  ¹⁴ tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364.

[15:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “you have placed into the hand of your servant.”

[15:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the uncircumcised,” which in context refers to the Philistines.

[15:19]  ¹⁰ tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface.

[15:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “spirit.”

[15:19]  ¹² tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:19]  ¹³ sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.”

[16:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all his heart.”

[16:18]  ¹² tn Heb “she sent and summoned.”

[16:18]  ¹³ tc The translation follows the Qere, לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the Kethib, לָהּ (lah, “to her”).

[16:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “all his heart.”

[16:28]  ¹² tn The Hebrew has אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה (’adonay yehovih, “Lord Yahweh”).

[16:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “so I can get revenge with one act of vengeance.”

[18:12]  ¹³ tn Or “Mahaneh Dan”; the Hebrew term “Mahaneh” means “camp [of].” Many English versions retain the transliterated Hebrew expression, but cf. CEV “Dan’s Camp.”

[18:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “behind.”