Judges 9:48

9:48 He and all his men ¹  went up on Mount Zalmon. He ²  took an ax ³  in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it ⁴  on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” ⁵ 

Judges 19:22

19:22 They were having a good time, ⁶  when suddenly ⁷  some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, ⁸  surrounded the house and kept beating ⁹  on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” ¹⁰ 

[9:48]  ¹ tn Heb “his people.”

[9:48]  ² tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.

[9:48]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.

[9:48]  ⁴ tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”

[9:48]  ⁵ tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”

[19:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “they were making their heart good.”

[19:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “and look.”

[19:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “the men of the city, men, the sons of wickedness.” The phrases are in apposition; the last phrase specifies what type of men they were. It is not certain if all the men of the city are in view, or just a group of troublemakers. In 20:5 the town leaders are implicated in the crime, suggesting that all the men of the city were involved. If so, the implication is that the entire male population of the town were good-for-nothings.

[19:22]  ⁹ tn The Hitpael verb form appears to have an iterative force here, indicating repeated action.

[19:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so we can know him.” On the surface one might think they simply wanted to meet the visitor and get to know him, but their hostile actions betray their double-talk. The old man, who has been living with them long enough to know what they are like, seems to have no doubts about the meaning of their words (see v. 23).