Though the text speaks of training the Israelites to fight as being the only reason that the LORD allowed the foreign peoples to stay in the Promised Land, another reason was given in verse 2.22-23. There is much repetition here, since the Hebrew words for “know” and “only” each occur twice. New Revised Standard Version and New International Version, among others, consider this verse to be a kind of “aside” and put it in parentheses, but translators must find the best way in their language to present such material.

It was only that the generations of the people of Israel might know war …: The syntax of this verse is quite complicated in Hebrew, beginning literally with “only in order that” followed by two infinitive phrases with the verbs “know” and “teach.” These two infinitive phrases spell out the second reason Yahweh allowed the non-believing peoples to stay in the Promised Land. It was so that the new generation of Israelites would come to know or “learn” how to wage war. For it was only that …, some possible translations are “One of his main objectives was…,” “He did this in order that…,” and “He did this so that….”

The generations of the people of Israel is literally “the generations of the sons/children of Israel,” which may be rendered “successive generations of Israelites” (New Revised Standard Version), “future generations…,” or perhaps “each new generation….” For generations see verse 2.10; for the people of Israel, see verse 1.1.

The subject of the verb know is the generations of the people of Israel. Usually, this verb has a direct object, but in the Hebrew text there is none. It is almost as if the narrator made a false start, saying “so that the people of Israel might know, that they might learn [what] war [is about].” Many versions either omit the verb know in their translation or anticipate as its object the word war, which occurs in the following clause (so Revised Standard Version). Another possible solution is to render the first clause of this verse as “so that the future generations of the people of Israel might [really] understand [or, gain experience].”

That he might teach war renders an infinitive phrase that is literally “to teach war.” Revised Standard Version has made explicit that the LORD (he) will teach the Israelites how to fight. However, making Yahweh the subject here raises a number of practical and theological issues, so most versions avoid this approach. New Revised Standard Version says simply “to teach,” and Contemporary English Version has “The Israelites needed to learn how to fight in war.” Other possibilities are “He wanted them to learn how to fight” and “that they might experience what it is to fight.”

To such at least as had not known it before renders another difficult clause, which is literally “only who before did not know them.” This clause seems to indicate that the teaching is for those who had not previously known war, that is, “especially those who had not experienced war before.” Revised Standard Version replaces the Hebrew pronoun for “them,” which seems to refer to battles in the plural (as in verse 3.1), with it, to refer to war. Translators should follow ver RSVver* here. For some languages it is better if this clause comes earlier in the translation, so that it can directly modify the people of Israel.

A suggested model for this verse is:

• The main purpose was to teach each generation of Israelites, especially those who had no previous battle experience, how to fight.

Another possibility is to combine 3.1-2 as follows:

• The LORD wanted the new generation of Israelites to learn how to fight, especially those who had not previously taken part in a war. So to test them, he left the following nations in place:….

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 .