Judges 6:23

6:23 The Lord said to him, “You are safe! ¹  Do not be afraid! You are not going to die!”

Judges 8:30-31

8:30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives. ²  8:31 His concubine, ³  who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. ⁴ 

Judges 13:18

13:18 The Lord’s messenger said to him, “You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it.” ⁵ 

Judges 16:16

16:16 She nagged him ⁶  every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. ⁷ 

Judges 17:11-12

17:11 So the Levite agreed to stay with the man; the young man was like a son to Micah. ⁸  17:12 Micah paid ⁹  the Levite; the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house.

Judges 18:4-5

18:4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, ¹⁰  “He hired me and I became his priest.” 18:5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, ¹¹  so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” ¹² 

Judges 18:15

18:15 They stopped ¹³  there, went inside the young Levite’s house (which belonged to Micah), ¹⁴  and asked him how he was doing. ¹⁵ 

[6:23]  ¹ tn Heb “Peace to you.” For a similar use of this idiom to introduce a reassuring word, see Gen 43:23.

[8:30]  ² tn Heb “Gideon had seventy sons who went out from his thigh, for he had many wives.” The Hebrew word יָרֵךְ (yarekh, “thigh”) is a euphemism here for the penis.

[8:31]  ³ sn A concubine was a slave woman in ancient Near Eastern societies who was the legal property of her master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with her master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).

[8:31]  ⁴ sn The name Abimelech means “my father is king.”

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Why do you ask for my name, for it is incomprehensible?” The Hebrew adjective פִּלְאִי (pile’iy, “wonderful, incomprehensible”) refers to what is in a category of its own and is beyond full human understanding. Note the use of this word in Ps 139:6, where God’s knowledge is described as incomprehensible and unattainable.

[16:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “forced him with her words.”

[16:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his spirit was short [i.e., impatient] to the point of death.”

[17:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “the young man became like one of his sons.”

[17:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “filled the hand of.”

[18:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “He said to them, ‘Such and such Micah has done for me.’” Though the statement is introduced and presented, at least in part, as a direct quotation (note especially “for me”), the phrase “such and such” appears to be the narrator’s condensed version of what the Levite really said.

[18:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “Ask God.”

[18:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so we can know if our way on which we are going will be successful.”

[18:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[18:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Micah’s house.”

[18:15]  ¹² tn Heb “they asked him concerning peace.”