Judges 5:22

5:22 The horses’ ¹  hooves pounded the ground; ² 

the stallions galloped madly. ³ 

Judges 5:13

5:13 Then the survivors ⁴  came down ⁵  to the mighty ones; ⁶ 

the Lord’s people came down to me ⁷  as ⁸  warriors.

Judges 5:8

5:8 God chose new leaders, ⁹ 

then fighters appeared in the city gates; ¹⁰ 

but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found, ¹¹ 

among forty military units ¹²  in Israel.

Judges 5:11

5:11 Hear ¹³  the sound of those who divide the sheep ¹⁴  among the watering places;

there they tell of ¹⁵  the Lord’s victorious deeds,

the victorious deeds of his warriors ¹⁶  in Israel.

Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –

Judges 5:19

5:19 Kings came, they fought;

the kings of Canaan fought,

at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, ¹⁷ 

but ¹⁸  they took no silver as plunder.

Judges 13:21

13:21 The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. ¹⁹ 

Judges 8:3

8:3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” ²⁰  When he said this, they calmed down. ²¹ 

[5:22]  ¹ tc The MT as it stands has a singular noun, but if one moves the prefixed mem (מ) from the beginning of the next word to the end of סוּס (sus), the expected plural form is achieved. Another possibility is to understand an error of scribal haplography here, in which case the letter mem should appear in both places.

[5:22]  ² tn The words “the ground” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:22]  ³ tn Heb “galloped, galloped.” The repetition is for emphasis and is more appropriately indicated in English with an adverb.

[5:13]  ⁴ tn This probably refers to those who responded to the call for war. They were “survivors” of the Canaanite oppression (see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 250).

[5:13]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes a repointing of the verb as a perfect or imperfect/preterite form of יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”). The form as pointed in the MT appears to be from רָדָה (radah, “to rule”). See GKC 188 §69.g. The same form, translated “came down,” occurs in the next line as well.

[5:13]  ⁶ sn The expression mighty ones probably refers to the leaders of the army.

[5:13]  ⁷ sn The speaker may be Deborah here.

[5:13]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes the preposition ב (bet) prefixed to “warriors” has the force of “in the capacity of.” For this use of the preposition, see GKC 379 §119.i.

[5:8]  ⁷ tn Or “warriors.” The Hebrew text reads literally, “He chose God/gods new.” Some take “Israel” as the subject of the verb, “gods” as object, and “new” as an adjective modifying “gods.” This yields the translation, “(Israel) chose new gods.” In this case idolatry is the cause of the trouble alluded to in the context. The present translation takes “God” as subject of the verb and “new” as substantival, referring to the new leaders raised up by God (see v. 9a). For a survey of opinions and a defense of the present translation, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 239-40.

[5:8]  ⁸ tn The translation of this difficult line is speculative because the second word, לָחֶם (lakhem), appears only here. The line in the Hebrew text literally reads, “Then [?] gates.” Interpretations and emendations of the Hebrew text abound (see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 239-40). The translation assumes a repointing of the form as a Qal participle לֹחֵם (lokhem) from the verbal root לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) and understands a substantival use (“fighter”). “Fighter” is a collective reference to the military leaders or warriors mentioned in the preceding line and in v. 9. (For other occurrences of the Qal of לָחַם, see Pss 35:1; 56:2-3.)

[5:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “A shield, it could not be seen, nor a spear.” The translation assumes that the Hebrew particle אִם (’im) introduces an oath of denial (see GKC 472 §149.e).

[5:8]  ¹⁰ tn Traditionally “forty thousand,” but this may be an instance where Hebrew term אֶלֶף (’elef) refers to a military unit. This is the view assumed by the translation (“forty military units”).

[5:11]  ¹⁰ tn The word “Hear” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[5:11]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. Some translate “those who distribute the water” (HALOT 344 s.v. חצץ pi). For other options see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 246-47.

[5:11]  ¹² tn Or perhaps “repeat.”

[5:11]  ¹³ tn See the note on the term “warriors” in v. 7.

[5:19]  ¹³ map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.

[5:19]  ¹⁴ tn The contrastive conjunction “but” is interpretive.

[13:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Then Manoah knew that he was the Lord’s messenger.”

[8:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “What was I able to do compared to you?”

[8:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Then their spirits relaxed from against him, when he spoke this word.”