Judges 9:49

9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches ¹  against the stronghold and set fire to it. ²  All the people ³  of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

Judges 12:1

Civil Strife Mars the Victory

12:1 The Ephraimites assembled ⁴  and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go and fight ⁵  with the Ammonites without asking ⁶  us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!” ⁷ 

Judges 14:15

14:15 On the fourth ⁸  day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. ⁹  If you refuse, ¹⁰  we will burn up ¹¹  you and your father’s family. ¹²  Did you invite us here ¹³  to make us poor?” ¹⁴ 

Judges 15:6

15:6 The Philistines asked, ¹⁵  “Who did this?” They were told, ¹⁶  “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite ¹⁷  took Samson’s ¹⁸  bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. ¹⁹ 

Judges 15:14

15:14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered ²⁰  him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in ²¹  fire, and they ²²  melted away from his hands.

Judges 18:27

18:27 Now the Danites ²³  took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. ²⁴ 

Judges 20:48

20:48 The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns ²⁵  and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, ²⁶  the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path. ²⁷ 

[9:49]  ¹ tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:49]  ² tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”

[9:49]  ³ tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.

[12:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “the men of Ephraim were summoned [or “were mustered”].”

[12:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “cross over to fight.”

[12:1]  ⁶ tn Or “calling”; or “summoning.”

[12:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Your house we will burn over you with fire.”

[14:15]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי (rÿvi’i, “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי (shÿvi’i, “seventh”). Some ancient textual witnesses (e.g., LXX and the Syriac Peshitta) read “fourth,” here, which certainly harmonizes better with the preceding verse (cf. “for three days”) and with v. 17. Another option is to change שְׁלֹשֶׁת (shÿloshet, “three”) at the end of v. 14 to שֵׁשֶׁת (sheshet, “six”), but the resulting scenario does not account as well for v. 17, which implies the bride had been hounding Samson for more than one day.

[14:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”

[14:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “lest.”

[14:15]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement: “burn up with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[14:15]  ¹² tc The translation assumes the Hebrew form הֲלֹם (halom, “here,” attested in five Hebrew mss and supported by the Targum), instead of the inexplicable הֲלֹא (halo’), a negative particle with interrogative particle prefixed to it.

[14:15]  ¹³ tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364.

[15:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “said.”

[15:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.

[15:6]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement with the additional phrase “burned with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons. Some textual witnesses read “burned…her father’s house,” perhaps under the influence of 14:15. On the other hand, the shorter text may have lost this phrase due to haplography.

[15:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “rushed on.”

[15:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “burned with.”

[15:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his bonds.”

[18:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:27]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew adds “with fire.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.

[20:48]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to the sons of Benjamin.”

[20:48]  ²⁰ tc The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים (me’ir mÿtim, “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם (me’ir mÿtom, “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).

[20:48]  ²¹ tn Heb “Also all the cities that were found they set on fire.”