So they put away the foreign gods from among them: The Israelites removed the foreign gods they had chosen, which implies they no longer worshiped them. So is a possible rendering for the Hebrew waw conjunction here, since it introduces a result. Another possible connector is “Then” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version). Put away is literally “caused to turn aside,” which may be rendered “put aside” (New Living Translation), “removed” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or even “did away with.” The Hebrew phrase rendered foreign gods only occurs here in this book. Usually these gods are referred to as “other gods” (verse 2.12, 17, 19; verse 10.13). The Hebrew word for foreign means “strange” or “different” in the sense of “alien” (compare verse 19.12, where a word from the same root is rendered “foreigners”). The gods the Israelites worshiped were foreign since they were the gods of the surrounding Canaanite peoples. We might say “strange gods,” “different gods,” “other people’s gods,” or “gods worshiped by other people.” The phrase rendered from among them is commonly used in Hebrew, but may be redundant in other languages or included in the meaning of the verb put away.

And served the LORD: See the comments on verse 2.7.

And he became indignant over the misery of Israel is literally “and his throat/life was short at the trouble of Israel.” In light of his people’s repentance, Yahweh was distressed by their suffering. The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered and may be translated “So” to introduce the result here. The pronoun he refers to Yahweh, but since there is a change in subject, some languages may prefer to use a full noun here. For the idiomatic Hebrew expression rendered became indignant, Good News Translation has “was troubled,” but a better translation is “could no longer bear/stand to see” (New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version). The misery of Israel refers to the oppression that the Israelites were suffering under the Ammonites and their other enemies. The Hebrew noun for misery can mean “toil” or “labor,” but here it has the sense of “trouble” or “suffering.”

Translation models for this verse are:

• So the Israelites got rid of the gods of the other peoples and began to serve the LORD [again]. And then, the LORD became troubled when he saw the way the Israelites suffered.

• Then the people removed the strange gods they had begun to worship and turned back to the LORD. At that point, the LORD could no longer bear to watch the suffering of the Israelites.

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 .