translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JDG

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “the men of Ephraim were summoned [or “were mustered”].”


text: Heb “cross over to fight.”


text: Or “calling”; or “summoning.”


text: Heb “Your house we will burn over you with fire.”


text: Heb A man of great strife I was and my people and the Ammonites.”


text: Heb “hand.”


text: Heb “you were no deliverer.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX has “no one was helping.”


text: Heb “I put my life in my hand.”


text: Heb “crossed over to.”


text: The Hebrew adds “against me” here. This is redundant in English and has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “because they said.”


label: NET textual note

text: Heb “Refugees of Ephraim are you, O Gilead, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” The LXX omits the entire second half of the verse (beginning with “because”). The words כִּי אָמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם ( ki ’ amru pÿlitey ’ efrayim , “because they said, ‘Refugees of Ephraim’”) may have been accidentally copied from the next verse (cf. כִּי יֹאמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם , ki yo ’ mÿru pelitey ’ efrayim ) and the following words (“you, O Gilead…Manasseh”) then added in an attempt to make sense of the verse. See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 307-8, and C. F. Burney, Judges , 327. If the Hebrew text is retained, then the Ephraimites appear to be insulting the Gileadites by describing them as refugees who are squatting on Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s land. The present translation assumes that “Ephraim” is a genitive of location after “refugees.”


text: The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Or “against Ephraim,” that is, so as to prevent Ephraim from crossing.


text: The Hebrew text has a plural form here.


text: Heb “say to.”


text: Heb “and could not prepare to speak.” The precise meaning of יָכִין ( yakhin ) is unclear. Some understand it to mean “was not careful [to say it correctly]”; others emend to יָכֹל ( yakhol , “was not able [to say it correctly]”) or יָבִין ( yavin , “did not understand [that he should say it correctly]”), which is read by a few Hebrew mss .


text: Traditionally, “judged.”


text: Heb “Jephthah the Gileadite.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: The Hebrew text has “in the cities of Gilead.” The present translation has support from some ancient Greek textual witnesses.


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-E2 ; Map10-B4 .


text: Heb “thirty daughters he sent off outside.” Another option is to translate, “He arranged for his thirty daughters…” It is not clear if he had more than the “thirty daughters” mentioned in the text.


text: Heb “and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from the outside.”


text: Heb “He”; the referent (Ibzan) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for English stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “Ibzan.” The pronoun “he” is used in the translation in keeping with English style, which tends to use a proper name first in a sentence followed by a pronoun rather than vice versa.


text: Heb “…led Israel. He led Israel for ten years.”