Judges 16-18
New English Translation
Samson’s Downfall
16 Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and slept with her.[a] 2 The Gazites were told,[b] “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town[c] and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave.[d] They relaxed[e] all night, thinking,[f] “He will not leave[g] until morning comes;[h] then we will kill him!” 3 Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left.[i] He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all.[j] He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron.[k]
4 After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, “Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate[l] him. Each one of us will give you 1,100 silver pieces.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.”[m] 7 Samson said to her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh[n] bowstrings[o] that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 8 So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 They hid[p] in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here,[q] Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire.[r] The secret of his strength was not discovered.[s]
10 Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you deceived[t] me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.” 11 He said to her, “If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used,[u] I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here,[v] Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.)[w] But he tore the ropes[x] from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.
13 Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair[y] into the fabric on the loom[z] and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here,[aa] Samson!”[ab] He woke up[ac] and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.
15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me?[ad] Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.” 16 She nagged him[ae] every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it.[af] 17 Finally he told her his secret.[ag] He said to her, “My hair has never been cut,[ah] for I have been dedicated to God[ai] from the time I was conceived.[aj] If my head[ak] were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak and be just like all other men.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret,[al] she sent for[am] the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me[an] his secret.”[ao] So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. 19 She made him go to sleep on her lap[ap] and then called a man in to shave off[aq] the seven braids of his hair.[ar] She made him vulnerable[as] and his strength left him. 20 She said, “The Philistines are here,[at] Samson!” He woke up[au] and thought,[av] “I will do as I did before[aw] and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the Lord had left him. 21 The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison. 22 His hair[ax] began to grow back after it had been shaved off.
Samson’s Death and Burial
23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.” 24 When the people saw him,[ay] they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!”[az]
25 When they really started celebrating,[ba] they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them.[bb] They made him stand between two pillars. 26 Samson said to the young man who held his hand, “Position me so I can touch the pillars that support the temple.[bc] Then I can lean on them.” 27 Now the temple[bd] was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were 3,000 men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain. 28 Samson called to the Lord, “O Sovereign Lord,[be] remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge[bf] against the Philistines for my two eyes!” 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple[bg] and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard,[bh] and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life.[bi] 31 His brothers and all his family[bj] went down and brought him back.[bk] They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led[bl] Israel for twenty years.
Micah Makes His Own Religion
17 There was a man named Micah from the Ephraimite hill country. 2 He said to his mother, “You know[bm] the 1,100 pieces of silver which were stolen[bn] from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole[bo] it, but now I am giving it back to you.”[bp] His mother said, “May the Lord reward[bq] you, my son!” 3 When he gave back to his mother the 1,100 pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate[br] this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.”[bs] 4 When he gave the silver back to his mother, she[bt] took 200 pieces of silver[bu] to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house.[bv] 5 Now this man Micah owned a shrine.[bw] He made an ephod[bx] and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest.[by] 6 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.[bz]
Micah Hires a Professional
7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah.[ca] 8 This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah’s house.[cb] 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a new place to live.”[cc] 10 Micah said to him, “Stay with me. Become my adviser[cd] and priest. I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, plus clothes and food.”[ce] 11 So the Levite agreed to stay with the man; the young man was like a son to Micah.[cf] 12 Micah paid[cg] the Levite; the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house. 13 Micah said, “Now I know the Lord will make me rich,[ch] because I have this Levite as my priest.”
The Tribe of Dan Finds an Inheritance
18 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place[ci] to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel.[cj] 2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives,[ck] capable men[cl] from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house.[cm] 3 As they approached[cn] Micah’s house, they recognized the accent[co] of the young Levite. So they stopped[cp] there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?”[cq] 4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying,[cr] “He hired me, and I became his priest.” 5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us,[cs] so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.”[ct] 6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence.[cu] The Lord will be with you on your mission.”[cv]
7 So the five men journeyed on[cw] and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there[cx] were living securely, like the Sidonians do,[cy] undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way.[cz] They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.[da] 8 When the Danites returned to their tribe[db] in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen[dc] asked them, “How did it go?”[dd] 9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them,[de] for[df] we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic,[dg] but don’t hesitate[dh] to invade and conquer[di] the land. 10 When you invade,[dj] you will encounter[dk] unsuspecting people. The land is wide![dl] God is handing it over to you—a place that lacks nothing on earth!”[dm]
11 So 600 Danites, fully armed, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.[dn] 12 They went up and camped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (To this day that place is called Camp of Dan.[do] It is west[dp] of Kiriath Jearim.) 13 From there they traveled through the Ephraimite hill country and arrived at Micah’s house. 14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish[dq] said to their kinsmen,[dr] “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.” 15 They stopped[ds] there, went inside the young Levite’s house (which belonged to Micah),[dt] and asked him how he was doing.[du] 16 Meanwhile the 600 Danites, fully armed, stood at the entrance to the gate.[dv] 17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole[dw] the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the 600 fully armed men.[dx] 18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole[dy] the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 They said to him, “Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser[dz] and priest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?”[ea] 20 The priest was happy. He took the ephod, the personal idols, and the carved image and joined the group.[eb]
21 They turned and went on their way, but they walked behind the children, the cattle, and their possessions.[ec] 22 After they had gone a good distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors[ed] gathered together and caught up with the Danites. 23 When they called out to the Danites, the Danites[ee] turned around and said to Micah, “Why have you gathered together?” 24 He said, “You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’”[ef] 25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t say another word to us, or some very angry men[eg] will attack you, and you and your family will die.”[eh] 26 The Danites went on their way; when Micah realized[ei] they were too strong to resist,[ej] he turned around and went home.
27 Now the Danites[ek] 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.[el] 28 No one came to the rescue because the city[em] was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone.[en] The city[eo] was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites[ep] rebuilt the city and occupied it. 29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons.[eq] But the city’s name used to be Laish. 30 The Danites worshiped[er] the carved image. Jonathan, descendant[es] of Gershom, son of Moses,[et] and his descendants[eu] served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 31 They worshiped[ev] Micah’s carved image[ew] the whole time God’s authorized shrine[ex] was in Shiloh.
Footnotes
- Judges 16:1 tn Heb “approached her.” The idiom בּוֹא אֶל (boʾ ʾel, “to go to”) is a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Judges 16:2 tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”
- Judges 16:2 tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.
- Judges 16:2 tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”
- Judges 16:2 tn Heb “were silent.”
- Judges 16:2 tn Heb “saying.”
- Judges 16:2 tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Judges 16:2 tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”
- Judges 16:3 tn Heb “And Samson lay until the middle of the night and arose in the middle of the night.”
- Judges 16:3 tn Heb “with the bar.”
- Judges 16:3 tn Heb “which is upon the face of Hebron.”
- Judges 16:5 tn Heb “subdue him in order to humiliate him.”
- Judges 16:6 tn Heb “how you can be subdued in order to be humiliated.”
- Judges 16:7 tn Or “moist.”
- Judges 16:7 tn The word refers to a bowstring, probably made from animal tendons. See Ps 11:2; Job 30:11.
- Judges 16:9 tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting for her.” The grammatically singular form וְהָאֹרֵב (vehaʾorev) is collective here, referring to the rulers as a group (so also in v. 16).
- Judges 16:9 tn Heb “are upon you.”
- Judges 16:9 tn Heb “when it smells fire.”
- Judges 16:9 tn Heb “His strength was not known.”
- Judges 16:10 tn See Gen 31:7; Exod 8:29 [8:25 HT]; Job 13:9; Isa 44:20; Jer 9:4 for other uses of this Hebrew word (II תָּלַל, talal), which also occurs in v. 13.
- Judges 16:11 tn Heb “with which no work has been done.”
- Judges 16:12 tn Heb “are upon you.”
- Judges 16:12 tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting in the bedroom.”
- Judges 16:12 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the ropes) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 16:13 tn Heb “head” (also in the following verse). By metonymy the head is mentioned in the Hebrew text in place of the hair on it.
- Judges 16:13 tn Heb “with the web.” For a discussion of how Delilah did this, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 381, and G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 353-54.
- Judges 16:14 tn Heb “are upon you.”
- Judges 16:14 tc The MT of vv. 13b-14a reads simply, “He said to her, ‘If you weave the seven braids of my head with the web.’ And she fastened with the pin and said to him.” The additional words in the translation, “and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.’ 16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom,” which without doubt represent the original text, are supplied from the ancient Greek version. (In both vv. 13b and 14a the Greek version has “to the wall” after “with the pin,” but this is an interpretive addition that reflects a misunderstanding of ancient weaving equipment. See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 353-54.) The Hebrew textual tradition was accidentally shortened during the copying process. A scribe’s eye jumped from the first instance of “with the web” to the second, causing him to leave out inadvertently the intervening words.
- Judges 16:14 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Judges 16:15 tn Heb “when your heart is not with me.”
- Judges 16:16 tn Heb “forced him with her words.”
- Judges 16:16 tn Heb “and his spirit was short [i.e., impatient] to the point of death.”
- Judges 16:17 tn Heb “all his heart.”
- Judges 16:17 tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”
- Judges 16:17 tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).
- Judges 16:17 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”
- Judges 16:17 tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).
- Judges 16:18 tn Heb “all his heart.”
- Judges 16:18 tn Heb “she sent and summoned.”
- Judges 16:18 tc The translation follows the Qere, לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the Kethib, לָהּ (lah, “to her”).
- Judges 16:18 tn Heb “all his heart.”
- Judges 16:19 tn Heb “on her knees.” The expression is probably euphemistic for sexual intercourse. See HALOT 160-61 s.v. בֶּרֶךְ.
- Judges 16:19 tn Heb “she called for a man and she shaved off.” The point seems to be that Delilah acted through the instrumentality of the man. See J. A. Soggin, Judges (OTL), 254.
- Judges 16:19 tn Heb “head.” By metonymy the hair of his head is meant.
- Judges 16:19 tn Heb “She began to humiliate him.” Rather than referring to some specific insulting action on Delilah’s part after Samson’s hair was shaved off, this statement probably means that she, through the devious actions just described, began the process of Samson’s humiliation which culminates in the following verses.
- Judges 16:20 tn Heb “are upon you.”
- Judges 16:20 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Judges 16:20 tn Heb “and said.”
- Judges 16:20 tn Heb “I will go out as before.”
- Judges 16:22 tn Heb “the hair of his head.”
- Judges 16:24 tn Most interpret this as a reference to Samson, but this seems premature, since v. 25 suggests he was not yet standing before them. Consequently some prefer to see this statement as displaced and move it to v. 25 (see C. F. Burney, Judges, 387). It seems more likely that the pronoun refers to an image of Dagon.
- Judges 16:24 tn Heb “multiplied our dead.”
- Judges 16:25 tn Heb “When their heart was good.”
- Judges 16:25 tn Heb “before them.”
- Judges 16:26 tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house is founded.”
- Judges 16:27 tn Heb “house.”
- Judges 16:28 tn The Hebrew has אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה (ʾadonay yehovih, “Lord Yahweh”).
- Judges 16:28 tn Heb “so I can get revenge with one act of vengeance.”
- Judges 16:29 tn Heb “the pillars upon which the house was founded.”
- Judges 16:30 tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”
- Judges 16:30 tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”
- Judges 16:31 tn Heb “and all the house of his father.”
- Judges 16:31 tn Heb “and lifted him up and brought up.”
- Judges 16:31 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
- Judges 17:2 tn The words “You know” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Judges 17:2 tn Heb “taken.”
- Judges 17:2 tn Heb “took.”
- Judges 17:2 tn In the Hebrew text the statement, “but now I am giving it back to you,” appears at the end of v. 3 and is spoken by the mother. But v. 4 indicates that she did not give the money back to her son. Unless the statement is spoken by the woman to the Lord, it appears to be misplaced and fits much better in v. 2. It may have been accidentally omitted from a manuscript, written in the margin, and then later inserted in the wrong place in another manuscript.
- Judges 17:2 tn Traditionally, “bless.”
- Judges 17:3 tn Heb “dedicating, I dedicate.” In this case the emphatic infinitive absolute lends a mood of solemnity to the statement.
- Judges 17:3 tn Heb “to the Lord from my hand for my son to make a carved image and cast metal image.” She cannot mean that she is now taking the money from her hand and giving it back to her son so he can make an image. Verses 4-6 indicate she took back the money and used a portion of it to hire a silversmith to make an idol for her son to use. The phrase “a carved image and cast metal image” is best taken as referring to two idols (see 18:17-18), even though the verb at the end of v. 4, וַיְהִי (vayehi, “and it was [in the house of Micah]”), is singular.
- Judges 17:4 tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.
- Judges 17:4 tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 17:4 tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”
- Judges 17:5 tn Heb “house of God.”
- Judges 17:5 sn Here an ephod probably refers to a priestly garment (cf. Exod 28:4-6).
- Judges 17:5 tn Heb “and he filled the hand of one of his sons and he became his priest.”
- Judges 17:6 tn Heb “Each was doing what was right in his [own] eyes.”
- Judges 17:7 tn Heb “There was a young man from Bethlehem of Judah, from the tribe of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he was temporarily residing there.”
- Judges 17:8 tn Heb “He came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, making his way.”
- Judges 17:9 tn Heb “And I am going to reside in a place I can find.”
- Judges 17:10 tn Heb “father.” “Father” is here a title of honor that suggests the priest will give advice and protect the interests of the family, primarily by divining God’s will in matters, perhaps through the use of the ephod. (See R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 257; also Gen 45:8, where Joseph, who was a diviner and interpreter of dreams, is called Pharaoh’s “father,” and 2 Kgs 6:21; 13:14, where a prophet is referred to as a “father.” Note also 2 Kgs 8:9, where a king identifies himself as a prophet’s “son.” One of a prophet’s main functions was to communicate divine oracles. Cf. 2 Kgs 8:9ff.; 13:14-19).
- Judges 17:10 tn The Hebrew text expands with the phrase: “and the Levite went.” This only makes sense if taken with “to live” in the next verse. Apparently “the Levite went” and “the Levite agreed” are alternative readings which have been juxtaposed in the text.
- Judges 17:11 tn Heb “the young man became like one of his sons.”
- Judges 17:12 tn Heb “filled the hand of.”
- Judges 17:13 tn Heb “do good for me.”
- Judges 18:1 tn Heb “an inheritance.”
- Judges 18:1 tn Heb “because there had not fallen to them by that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel an inheritance.”
- Judges 18:2 tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”
- Judges 18:2 tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”
- Judges 18:2 tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”
- Judges 18:3 tn Or “When they were near.”
- Judges 18:3 tn Heb “voice.” This probably means that “his speech was Judahite [i.e., southern] like their own, not Israelite [i.e., northern]” (R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 263).
- Judges 18:3 tn Heb “turned aside.”
- Judges 18:3 tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”
- Judges 18:4 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.
- Judges 18:5 tn Heb “Ask God.”
- Judges 18:5 tn Heb “so we can know if our way on which we are going will be successful.”
- Judges 18:6 tn Heb “in peace.”
- Judges 18:6 tn Heb “In front of the Lord is your way in which you are going.”
- Judges 18:7 tn Or “went.”
- Judges 18:7 tn Heb “who were in its midst.”
- Judges 18:7 tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”
- Judges 18:7 tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”
- Judges 18:7 tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (ʾaram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (ʾadam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.
- Judges 18:8 tn Heb “They came to their brothers.”
- Judges 18:8 tn Heb “brothers.”
- Judges 18:8 tn Heb “What you?”
- Judges 18:9 tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”
- Judges 18:9 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”
- Judges 18:9 tn Heb “But you are inactive.”
- Judges 18:9 tn Or “be lazy.”
- Judges 18:9 tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”
- Judges 18:10 tn Heb “When you enter.”
- Judges 18:10 tn Heb “you will come to.”
- Judges 18:10 tn Heb “broad of hands,” an idiom meaning “wide on both sides.”
- Judges 18:10 tn Heb “a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”
- Judges 18:11 tn Heb “They journeyed from there, from the tribe of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, 600 men, equipped with weapons of war.”
- Judges 18:12 tn Or “Mahaneh Dan”; the Hebrew term “Mahaneh” means “camp [of].” Many English versions retain the transliterated Hebrew expression, but cf. CEV “Dan’s Camp.”
- Judges 18:12 tn Heb “behind.”
- Judges 18:14 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX lacks the phrase “of Laish.”
- Judges 18:14 tn Heb “brothers.”
- Judges 18:15 tn Heb “turned aside.”
- Judges 18:15 tn Heb “Micah’s house.”
- Judges 18:15 tn Heb “they asked him concerning peace.”
- Judges 18:16 tn Heb “And the 600 men, equipped with the weapons of war…from the sons of Dan.”
- Judges 18:17 tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”
- Judges 18:17 tn Heb “600 men, equipped with the weapons of war.”
- Judges 18:18 tn Heb “These went into Micah’s house and took.”
- Judges 18:19 tn See the note on the word “adviser” in 17:10.
- Judges 18:19 tn Heb “Is it better for you to be priest for the house of one man or for you to be priest for a tribe, for a clan in Israel?”
- Judges 18:20 tn Heb “and went into the midst of the people.”
- Judges 18:21 tn Heb “They turned and went and put the children, the cattle, and the possessions in front of them.”
- Judges 18:22 tn Heb “the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house.”
- Judges 18:23 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 18:24 tn Heb “What is this you say to me, ‘What to you?’”
- Judges 18:25 tn Heb “bitter in spirit.” This phrase is used in 2 Sam 17:8 of David and his warriors, who are compared to a bear robbed of her cubs.
- Judges 18:25 tn Heb “and you will gather up your life and the life of your house.”
- Judges 18:26 tn Heb “saw.”
- Judges 18:26 tn Heb “they were stronger than he.”
- Judges 18:27 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 18:27 tn The Hebrew adds “with fire.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.
- Judges 18:28 tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.
- Judges 18:28 tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”
- Judges 18:28 tn Heb “it.” The Hebrew pronoun is feminine singular here, referring to the “city” (a grammatically feminine singular noun) mentioned in v. 27.
- Judges 18:28 tn Heb “They”; the referent (the Danites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 18:29 tn Heb “They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who had been born to Israel.”
- Judges 18:30 tn Heb “erected for themselves.”
- Judges 18:30 tn Heb “son.”
- Judges 18:30 tc Several ancient textual witnesses, including some LXX mss and the Vulgate, support the reading “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה, mosheh) here. Many Hebrew mss have a nun (נ) suspended above the name between the first two letters (מנשׁה), suggesting the name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, menasheh). This is probably a scribal attempt to protect Moses’ reputation. For discussion, see G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 401-2.
- Judges 18:30 tn Heb “sons.”
- Judges 18:31 tn Heb “they set up for themselves.”
- Judges 18:31 tn Heb “the carved image that Micah had made.”
- Judges 18:31 tn Heb “the house of God.”
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