Footnotes

1. Judges 11:12 tn Heb “What to me and to you that…?”
2. Judges 11:13 tn Or “took”; or “seized.”
3. Judges 11:13 tn Heb “he” (a collective singular).
4. Judges 11:13 tn Heb “from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan.” The word “River” has been supplied in the translation with “Arnon” and “Jabbok,” because these are less familiar to modern readers than the Jordan.
5. Judges 11:13 tc The translation assumes a singular suffix (“[return] it”); the Hebrew text has a plural suffix (“[return] them”), which, if retained, might refer to the cities of the land.
6. Judges 11:15 tn Or “take”; or “seize.”
7. Judges 11:16 tn Heb “For when they went up from.”
8. Judges 11:16 tn Or “went.”
9. Judges 11:17 tn Heb “me.” (Collective Israel is the speaker.)
10. Judges 11:17 tn Heb “did not listen.”
11. Judges 11:17 tn Heb “Also to the king of Moab he sent, but he was unwilling.”
12. Judges 11:18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel; the pronoun in the Hebrew text represents a collective singular) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13. Judges 11:18 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
14. Judges 11:19 tn Heb “to my place.”
15. Judges 11:20 tn Heb “Sihon.” The proper name (“Sihon”) has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) because of English style; a repetition of the proper name here would be redundant in English.
16. Judges 11:20 tn Heb “all his people” (also in the following verse).
17. Judges 11:21 tn That is, took as its own possession.
18. Judges 11:22 tn Heb “from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the desert to the Jordan.” The word “River” has been supplied in the translation with “Arnon” and “Jabbok,” because these are less familiar to modern readers than the Jordan.
19. Judges 11:23 tn Heb “Now.”
20. Judges 11:23 tn Or “dispossessed.”
21. Judges 11:23 tn Heb “will you dispossess him [i.e., Israel; or possibly “it,” i.e., the territory]?” There is no interrogative marker in the Hebrew text.
22. Judges 11:24 tn Heb “Is it not so that what Chemosh your god causes you to possess, you possess, and all whom the Lord our God dispossesses before us we will possess?” Jephthah speaks of Chemosh as if he is on a par with the Lord God of Israel. This does not necessarily mean that Jephthah is polytheistic or that he recognizes the Lord as only a local deity. He may simply be assuming the Ammonite king’s perspective for the sake of argument. Other texts, as well as the extrabiblical Mesha inscription, associate Chemosh with Moab, while Milcom is identified as the god of the Ammonites. Why then does Jephthah refer to Chemosh as the Ammonite god? Ammon had likely conquered Moab and the Ammonite king probably regarded himself as heir of all territory formerly held by Moab. Originally Moab had owned the disputed territory (cf. Num 21:26-29), meaning that Chemosh was regarded as the god of the region (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 203-4). Jephthah argues that Chemosh had long ago relinquished claim to the area (by allowing Sihon to conquer it), while the Lord had long ago established jurisdiction over it (by taking it from Sihon and giving it to Israel). Both sides should abide by the decisions of the gods which had stood firm for 300 years.
23. Judges 11:25 tn The Hebrew grammatical constructions of all three rhetorical questions indicate emphasis, which “really” and “dare to” are intended to express in the translation. sn Jephthah argues that the Ammonite king should follow the example of Balak, who, once thwarted in his attempt to bring a curse on Israel, refused to attack Israel and returned home (Num 22-24).
24. Judges 11:27 tn Or “sinned against you.”
25. Judges 11:27 tn Or “evil.”
26. Judges 11:28 tn Heb “did not listen to.”
27. Judges 11:28 tn Heb “Jephthah’s words which he sent to him.”