Judges 4:9

4:9 She said, “I will indeed go with you. But you will not gain fame ¹  on the expedition you are undertaking, ²  for the Lord will turn Sisera over to a woman.” ³  Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Judges 4:17

4:17 Now Sisera ran away on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for King Jabin of Hazor ⁴  and the family of Heber the Kenite had made a peace treaty. ⁵ 

Judges 4:21

4:21 Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. ⁶  She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground ⁷  while he was asleep from exhaustion, ⁸  and he died.

Judges 9:49

9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches ⁹  against the stronghold and set fire to it. ¹⁰  All the people ¹¹  of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

Judges 9:51

9:51 There was a fortified ¹²  tower ¹³  in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city’s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower.

Judges 9:54

9:54 He quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons, ¹⁴  “Draw your sword and kill me, so they will not say, ¹⁵  ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man stabbed him and he died.

Judges 13:6

13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God ¹⁶  came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. ¹⁷  I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

Judges 13:23

13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. ¹⁸  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

Judges 14:15-16

14:15 On the fourth ¹⁹  day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. ²⁰  If you refuse, ²¹  we will burn up ²²  you and your father’s family. ²³  Did you invite us here ²⁴  to make us poor?” ²⁵  14:16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder ²⁶  and said, “You must ²⁷  hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men ²⁸  a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” ²⁹ 

Judges 15:6

15:6 The Philistines asked, ³⁰  “Who did this?” They were told, ³¹  “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite ³²  took Samson’s ³³  bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. ³⁴ 

Judges 19:1

Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited

19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite ³⁵  living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine ³⁶  from Bethlehem ³⁷  in Judah.

Judges 21:10

21:10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors ³⁸  against Jabesh Gilead. ³⁹  They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords ⁴⁰  the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children.

Judges 21:21-23

21:21 and keep your eyes open. ⁴¹  When you see ⁴²  the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, ⁴³  jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin. 21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, ⁴⁴  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ⁴⁵  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ⁴⁶  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ⁴⁷  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ⁴⁸ 

21:23 The Benjaminites did as instructed. ⁴⁹  They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. ⁵⁰  They went home ⁵¹  to their own territory, ⁵²  rebuilt their cities, and settled down. ⁵³ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn Or “honor.”

[4:9]  ² tn Heb “on [account of (?)] the way which you are walking.” Another option is to translate, “due to the way you are going about this.” In this case direct reference is made to Barak’s hesitancy as the reason for his loss of glory.

[4:9]  ³ tn Heb “for into the hands of a woman the Lord will sell Sisera.”

[4:17]  ⁴ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[4:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “for there was peace between.”

[4:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “took a tent peg and put a hammer in her hand.”

[4:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it went into the ground.”

[4:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and exhausted.” Another option is to understand this as a reference to the result of the fatal blow. In this case, the phrase could be translated, “and he breathed his last.”

[9:49]  ¹⁰ tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:49]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”

[9:49]  ¹² tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.

[9:51]  ¹³ tn Or “strong.”

[9:51]  ¹⁴ tn Or “fortress.” The same Hebrew term occurs once more in this verse and twice in v. 52.

[9:54]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds, “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:54]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds, “concerning me.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “The man of God.”

[13:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”

[13:23]  ²² tn Heb “our hand.”

[14:15]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”

[14:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “lest.”

[14:15]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[14:15]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364.

[14:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “on him.”

[14:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “only”; or “simply.”

[14:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the sons of my people.”

[14:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “Should I tell you?”

[15:6]  ³¹ tn Or “said.”

[15:6]  ³² tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

[15:6]  ³³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ³⁵ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement with the additional phrase “burned with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons. Some textual witnesses read “burned…her father’s house,” perhaps under the influence of 14:15. On the other hand, the shorter text may have lost this phrase due to haplography.

[19:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “a man, a Levite.”

[19:1]  ³⁵ sn See the note on the word “concubine” in 8:31.

[19:1]  ³⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[21:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

[21:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “there.”

[21:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”

[21:21]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and look.”

[21:21]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and look, when.”

[21:21]  ⁴² tn Heb “in the dances.”

[21:22]  ⁴³ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

[21:22]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:22]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

[21:22]  ⁴⁶ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

[21:22]  ⁴⁷ tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.

[21:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “did so.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “went and returned.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “inheritance.”

[21:23]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “and lived in them.”