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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.”

The Ammonites Trouble Israel

Again the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] did ·what the Lord said was wrong [L evil in the eyes/sight of the Lord]. They ·worshiped [served] ·Baal and Ashtoreth [L the Baals and Ashtoreths; 2:11–13; C referring to the idols of these gods found throughout Israel], the gods of Aram [C these included Hadad, Mot, Anath, and Rimon], Sidon [C Baal and Ashtoreth], Moab [C Chemosh; Num. 21:29], and Ammon [C Molech; 1 Kin. 11:7], and the gods of the Philistines [C Dagon; 16:23]. The Israelites ·left [abandoned; forsook] the Lord and stopped serving him. So the Lord ·was angry with [L burned with anger against] them and ·handed them over to [L gave them into the hand of] the Philistines and the Ammonites. In the same year those people ·destroyed [L shattered and crushed; C from two Hebrew words that sound similar] the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] who lived east of the Jordan River in the region of Gilead, where the Amorites lived. So the Israelites suffered for eighteen years. The Ammonites then crossed the Jordan River to fight the people of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, causing much ·trouble [distress] to the people of Israel.

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