Includes bibliographical references (pages 691-744) and indexes.

Cover -- Judges 1 -- Dedication -- Contents -- Foreword to Hermeneia -- Preface -- Reference codes -- Abbreviations and sigla -- Short titles -- Introduction -- The names of the book -- The meaning of "Judges" and their role in the book of Judges -- The place of Judges in the Canon -- Textual criticism -- The structure and unity of Judges -- The date of Judges -- Historiography across Judges: chronology and geography -- The format of this commentary -- The book's prologue -- Text -- Israelite successes and failures in conquering the land -- Textual notes -- Commentary -- The divine choice of Judah and the tribe's first victory in Jerusalem -- Judah at Hebron and Debir with Caleb and Othniel -- Judah and the settlement of the Kenites, Benjamin and Jerusalem -- The house of Joseph -- Unsuccessful Northern tribes -- Manasseh and Ephraim -- Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali -- Dan -- The archaeology of Judges 1 -- Text -- Divine rebuke of the Israelites for violation of the covenant -- Resumptive Repetition of Joshua 24:28-31 plus Coda -- Introduction to the Military Leaders ("Major Judges") -- The Cycle of Israelite Idolatry, Divine Punishment via Enemy Peoples Surrounding the Land, and Deliverance by Divinely Selected Leaders -- Textual Notes -- Commentary -- Divine rebuke of the Israelites for violation of the covenant -- Resumptive repetition of Joshua 24:28-31 plus Coda -- Introduction to the military leaders ("Major Judges") -- The cycle of Israelite idolatry, divine punishment via enemy peoples surrounding the land, and deliverance by divinely selected leaders -- Text -- Appendix: two listings for the peoples in the land -- Military leaders versus enemies --

This groundbreaking volume presents a new translation of the text and detailed interpretation of almost every word or phrase in the book of Judges, drawing from archaeology and iconography, textual versions, biblical parallels, and extrabiblical texts, many never noted before. Archaeology also serves to show how a story of the Iron II period employed visible ruins to narrate supposedly early events from the so-called "period of the Judges." The synchronic analysis for each unit sketches its characters and main themes, as well as other literary dynamics. The diachronic, redactional analysis shows the shifting settings of units as well as their development, commonly due to their inner-textual reception and reinterpretation. The result is a remarkably fresh historical-critical treatment of 1:1-10:5.--Publisher's description.