And Judah went with Simeon his brother: Translators will have to decide how to render the Hebrew waw conjunction translated And. If this is considered a new event on the story line, New International Version‘s “Then” would be a good rendering. For Judah and Simeon, as well as his brother, see verse 1.2-3. Some versions omit his brother, since this relationship has already been made clear in verse 1.3. Note, however, this phrase underlines the positive aspects of the first part of the book when brothers fought side by side, in contrast to what is to come in the final part of the book when brothers fight against each other. Went is simply the general Hebrew verb for “go.”

And they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath: The combined troops went to the Canaanite town of Zephath, a town less than 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the west of Arad. Most of this vocabulary has appeared before. For defeated see verse 1.4; for the Canaanites, see verse 1.1; and for inhabited see verse 1.9, verse 16.

And utterly destroyed it: The Hebrew verb rendered utterly destroyed is charam. The word is used often in the book of Joshua but occurs only rarely in the book of Judges (verse 1.17; verse 21.11). According to God’s command, when the Israelites captured a town, they were to “dedicate” it to the LORD, which meant destroying it completely. This was considered a holy sacrifice. Because of the religious significance of the expression utterly destroyed, translators need to find a good rendering and perhaps explain this practice in a footnote or include it in the glossary. Good News Translation says “They put a curse on the city, destroyed it,” but this rendering does not seem completely correct because curses were not part of such destruction. New Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version say “devoted it [the city] to destruction.” We can say “dedicated the town and its people to destruction” or “destroyed everything in the town as a sign of their devotion to God.” It renders the Hebrew emphatic feminine pronoun for “her,” referring to the city of Zephath. In many languages it will be more natural to say “the town/city,” as in Contemporary English Version‘s “They completely destroyed the town.” Contemporary English Version also adds the following footnote: “completely destroyed: The Hebrew word means that the town was given completely to the LORD, and since it could not be used for normal purposes any more, it had to be destroyed.”

So the name of the city was called Hormah: This sentence describes the city’s change in name as a result of what happened there. So translates the Hebrew waw conjunction, which might also be rendered by an expression such as “that’s why,” “because of this,” or “therefore.” The town’s name is changed from Zephath to Hormah, because it was utterly destroyed (charam). This play on words in Hebrew cannot be seen in the Revised Standard Version translation, but the original readers immediately saw the connection. If translators simply transliterate the name Hormah, modern readers will not get the point, but there are several options for helping the reader understand. Good News Translation explains the meaning of the name in a footnote. But translators may also insert the meaning of the name into the text, for example, “So they called the city ‘Hormah,’ which means ‘completely destroyed.’ ” Some translators actually translate the meaning of the city name within the text by saying “So the name of the city was called ‘Utterly Destroyed.’ ” Such wordplays are frequent in Hebrew literature, even in passages describing tragedies (see verse 2.5).

Models for the translation of this verse are:

• Then the men from the brother tribes of Judah and Simeon joined together and attacked the Canaanites living in the city of Zephath and they totally destroyed it.* That is why this city was called Hormah meaning “Totally Destroyed.”
* This practice involved dedicating something completely to God which included destroying it.

• Then the armies of Judah and Simeon headed out to Zephath. They devoted that city to destruction, totally destroying the town. From then, that city was called “Totally Destroyed.”

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .