Footnotes

1. Judges 3:1 tn Heb “did not know the wars of Canaan.”
2. 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).
3. Judges 3:3 tn The words “These were the nations,” though not present in the Hebrew text, are supplied in the translation for clarity.
4. Judges 3:3 tn Or “the entrance to Hamath.”
5. 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.”
6. Judges 3:6 tn Heb “to their sons.”
7. Judges 3:6 tn Or “served”; or “followed” (this term occurs in the following verse as well).