Judges 3:1-6
New English Translation
3 These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel—he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites.[a] 2 He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.[b] 3 These were the nations:[c] the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.[d] 4 They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.[e]
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6 They took the Canaanites’ daughters as wives and gave their daughters to the Canaanites;[f] they worshiped[g] their gods as well.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Judges 3:1 tn Heb “did not know the wars of Canaan.”
- Judges 3:2 tn The Hebrew syntax of v. 2 is difficult. The Hebrew text reads literally, “only in order that the generations of the Israelites might know, to teach them war—only those who formerly did not know them.”sn The stated purpose for leaving the nations (to teach the subsequent generations…how to conduct holy war) seems to contradict 2:22 and 3:4, which indicate the nations were left to test Israel’s loyalty to the Lord. However, the two stated purposes can be harmonized. The willingness of later generations to learn and engage in holy war would measure their allegiance to the Lord (see B. G. Webb, Judges [JSOTSup], 114-15).
- Judges 3:3 tn The words “These were the nations,” though not present in the Hebrew text, are supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 3:3 tn Or “the entrance to Hamath.”
- Judges 3:4 tn Heb “to know if they would hear the commands of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.”
- Judges 3:6 tn Heb “to their sons.”
- Judges 3:6 tn Or “served”; or “followed” (this term occurs in the following verse as well).
Judges 3:1-6
American Standard Version
3 Now these are the nations which Jehovah left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as beforetime knew nothing thereof: 3 namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entrance of Hamath. 4 And they were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. 5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 6 and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.
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