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The Lord’s Patience Runs Short

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight.[a] They worshiped[b] the Baals and the Ashtoreths,[c] as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines.[d] They abandoned the Lord and did not worship[e] him. The Lord was furious with Israel[f] and turned them over to[g] the Philistines and Ammonites. They ruthlessly oppressed[h] the Israelites that eighteenth year[i]—that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead. The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight with Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim.[j] Israel suffered greatly.[k]

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 10:6 tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”
  2. Judges 10:6 tn Or “served;” or “followed.”
  3. Judges 10:6 sn The Ashtoreths were local manifestations of the goddess Astarte.
  4. Judges 10:6 tn Heb “the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.”
  5. Judges 10:6 tn Or “serve”; or “follow.”
  6. Judges 10:7 tn Or “the Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”
  7. Judges 10:7 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
  8. Judges 10:8 tn Heb “shattered and crushed.” The repetition of similar sounding synonyms (רָעַץ [raʿats] and רָצַץ [ratsats]) is for emphasis; רָצַץ appears in the Polel, adding further emphasis to the affirmation.
  9. Judges 10:8 tn The phrase שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה (shemoneh ʿesreh shanah) could be translated “eighteen years,” but this would be difficult after the reference to “that year.” It is possible that v. 8b is parenthetical, referring to an eighteen year long period of oppression east of the Jordan which culminated in hostilities against all Israel (including Judah, see v. 9) in the eighteenth year. It is simpler to translate the phrase as an ordinal number, though the context does not provide the point of reference. (See Gen 14:4-5 and R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 191-92.) In this case, the following statement specifies which “Israelites” are in view.
  10. Judges 10:9 tn Heb “the house of Ephraim.”
  11. Judges 10:9 tn Or “Israel experienced great distress.” Perhaps here the verb has the nuance “hemmed in.”

Further Disobedience and Oppression

(A)The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (B)and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, (C)the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they (D)forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and (E)he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

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