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Othniel: A Model Leader

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight.[a] They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.[b] The Lord was furious with Israel[c] and turned them over to[d] King Cushan Rishathaim[e] of Armon Haraim.[f] They were Cushan Rishathaim’s subjects[g] for eight years. When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he[h] raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who rescued[i] them. His name was Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.[j]

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 3:7 tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”
  2. Judges 3:7 sn The Asherahs were local manifestations of the Canaanite goddess Asherah.
  3. Judges 3:8 tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned (or raged) against Israel.”
  4. Judges 3:8 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
  5. Judges 3:8 tn Or “Cushan the Doubly Wicked.”
  6. Judges 3:8 tc Armon Haraim. Traditionally Aram-Naharaim, and sometimes understood as a place in Mesopotamia. This reading accepts the consonantal text but divides the words after the nun (נ) instead of before. The consonants ארמן הרים could be read with a dual ending as ʾArmon Haraim, meaning “Citadel of the Two Mountains,” or with a plural ending as ʾArmon Harim, meaning “Citadel of the Mountains.” In either case, Cushan Rishathaim is probably a remaining Canaanite king with a fortress in the hill country of Israel. See Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, 106.
  7. Judges 3:8 tn Or “they served Cushan Rishathaim.”
  8. Judges 3:9 tn Heb “the Lord.”
  9. Judges 3:9 tn Or “delivered.”
  10. Judges 3:9 tn “Caleb’s younger brother” may refer to Othniel or to Kenaz (in which case Othniel is Caleb’s nephew).

Othniel

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord(A) their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.(B) The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold(C) them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim(D) king of Aram Naharaim,[a](E) to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. But when they cried out(F) to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer,(G) Othniel(H) son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 3:8 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia