Judges 6:39

6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. ¹  Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” ² 

Judges 11:35

11:35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! ³  You have brought me disaster! ⁴  I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” ⁵ 

Judges 11:39

11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. ⁶  Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. ⁷ 

Judges 14:17

14:17 She cried on his shoulder ⁸  until the party was almost over. ⁹  Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. ¹⁰  Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle. ¹¹ 

Judges 19:1

Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited

19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite ¹²  living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine ¹³  from Bethlehem ¹⁴  in Judah.

Judges 19:30

19:30 Everyone who saw the sight ¹⁵  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ¹⁶  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ¹⁷  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

[6:39]  ¹ tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”

[6:39]  ² tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”

[11:35]  ³ tn Heb “you have brought me very low,” or “you have knocked me to my knees.” The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[11:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “You are among [or “like”] those who trouble me.”

[11:35]  ⁵ tn Heb “I opened my mouth to the Lord and I am not able to return.”

[11:39]  ⁵ tn Heb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302-3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.

[11:39]  ⁶ tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”

[14:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “on him.”

[14:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.

[14:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “because she forced him.”

[14:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”

[19:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man, a Levite.”

[19:1]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on the word “concubine” in 8:31.

[19:1]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[19:30]  ¹¹ tn The words “the sight” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[19:30]  ¹² tn Heb “from the day.”

[19:30]  ¹³ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the following additional words: “And he instructed the men whom he sent out, ‘Thus you will say to every male Israelite: “There has never been anything like this from the day the Israelites left Egypt till the present day.”’”