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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.”

Oppression by the Ammonites

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, serving the Baals and the Astartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. Thus they abandoned the Lord and did not worship him.(A) So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites,(B) and they crushed and oppressed the Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.

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