Judges 5:6

5:6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael caravans ¹  disappeared; ² 

travelers ³  had to go on winding side roads.

Judges 15:20

15:20 Samson led ⁴  Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence. ⁵ 

Judges 8:28

Gideon’s Story Ends

8:28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. ⁶  The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. ⁷ 

Judges 15:1

Samson Versus the Philistines

15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, ⁸  Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. ⁹  He said to her father, ¹⁰  “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” ¹¹  But her father would not let him enter.

[5:6]  ¹ tc The translation assumes the form אֳרְחוֹת (’orÿkhot, “caravans”) rather than אֳרָחוֹת (’orakhot, “roadways”) because it makes a tighter parallel with “travelers” in the next line.

[5:6]  ² tn Or “ceased.”

[5:6]  ³ tn Heb “Ones walking on paths.”

[15:20]  ⁴ tn Traditionally, “judged.”

[15:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the days of the Philistines.”

[8:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “Midian was humbled before the Israelites, and they no longer lifted their heads.”

[8:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the days of Gideon.”

[15:1]  ¹⁰ sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.

[15:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”

[15:1]  ¹² tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).

[15:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will go to my wife in the bedroom.” The Hebrew idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations. The cohortative form used by Samson can be translated as indicating resolve (“I want to go”) or request (“let me go”).