And renders the Hebrew waw conjunction. Here it introduces new information that is presented as a kind of flashback. There is no reason to think the capture of Jerusalem described here took place immediately after the death of Adoni-bezek. Rather, it is more likely that this event occurred prior to this incident. Though Revised Standard Version renders this conjunction as And, it will be more helpful to say “Earlier” or “Before this time.”

The men of Judah is literally “the sons/children of Judah,” a slight change from the simple “Judah” in verse 1.2. Good News Translation says “The people of Judah,” but since this is a context of war, we might say “the warriors [of the tribe] of Judah.” Though we know from verse 1.3 that the descendants of Simeon joined them, the narrator consistently refers to “the sons of Judah,” so translators should probably maintain this focus in the Hebrew text throughout the passage.

Fought against Jerusalem: Fought renders the same Hebrew verb translated “fight” in verse 1.1. Here the object is a city, Jerusalem, but this would imply that they attacked the inhabitants as well. Jerusalem was a walled city, so the soldiers of Judah would need to find a way to enter in before they could fight the people. Here fought against can be rendered “attacked” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

And took it: The soldiers evidently found a way to get into Jerusalem “and captured it” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible). Translators should find a verb here that applies in this context of war, such as “took possession of.”

And smote it with the edge of the sword: Smote renders the same Hebrew verb translated “defeated” in verse 1.4. Here it refers to the killing of the residents of the city. Though the pronoun it refers to the city, what is really intended are the people living there. Smote … with the edge of the sword is a very common Hebrew idiom, which may refer specifically to death by slitting the throat. However, in many contexts this idiomatic expression seems to refer to different kinds of killing, perhaps with weapons other than the sword. The edge of the sword is literally “the mouth of the sword,” a figurative way of referring to the sharp edge of the blade. In most languages a literal rendering will not be natural and translators will need to look for an equivalent expression. New International Version says “They put the city to the sword,” and Revised English Bible is similar with “they put its people to the sword.” Good News Translation says simply “They killed its people,” which loses any reference to the mode of killing. Contemporary English Version tries to express some of the impact, saying they “killed everyone who lived there.” Translators should find a strong expression, for example, “they massacred everyone who lived there.”

And set the city on fire: As present archaeological remains show, setting cities on fire was very common in Palestine. They did not simply burn some structures, but actually burnt entire cities to the ground. The city refers to Jerusalem. Most ancient cities were small towns surrounded by walls. Their population probably exceeded no more than a few thousand inhabitants. In many languages there may be only one word for a village, town, or city. If the referent to the city is already clear, a pronoun can also be used here by rendering this clause as “and they burned it to the ground.”

This verse presents another problem of sequencing, since at verse 1.21 the narrator recounts that the people of Benjamin were unable to drive out the first residents of Jerusalem, the Jebusites. Some suggest that the city is a reference to the Jebusite stronghold, which remained until the time of David (verse 2 Sam 5.6-9), rather than the city of Jerusalem itself. Thus the soldiers of Judah would have captured the walled city, but would have failed to capture the fort there. Contemporary English Version has the following footnote on Jerusalem here: “This probably refers to towns and villages belonging to Jerusalem but lying in Judah’s territory south of the city wall. Jerusalem itself was just inside Benjamin’s territory, but was not captured by Israel at this time (see verse 21; verse 15.5-9; verse 18.15-18).” Translators will not be able to resolve all the issues here, so the best option may be to simply render the text as it stands and include a footnote if so desired.

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 .