Judges 10 · a question people ask
"His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel" (10:16). What does that mean?
In Hebrew his soul was grieved is vattiqtsar nafsho, literally, his soul was short (tap grieved). It isn't the word behind "it grieved the LORD" in 2:18. The same Hebrew, a soul that is short, is said of the people on the way around Edom, "The soul of the people was very discouraged" (Numbers 21:4), of Samson, "his soul was troubled to death" (16:16), and in Zechariah, "my soul was weary of them" (Zechariah 11:8). Misery is amal, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "trouble, labor, toil" (tap misery). The verse doesn't explain itself further, and Christians read it in two main ways. Both agree on what comes next: "the LORD’s Spirit came on Jephthah" (11:29), and "the LORD delivered them into his hand" (11:32).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Moved with pity
Those who hold this view read the verse beside 2:18, where the LORD saved Israel through the judges, "for it grieved the LORD because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them". The LORD had seen Israel's suffering before: "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt" (Exodus 3:7), and Isaiah says, "In all their affliction he was afflicted" (Isaiah 63:9). On this reading, once Israel had put away the foreign gods, the LORD could no longer bear to see them suffer.
Judges 2:18 · Exodus 3:7 · Isaiah 63:9
Patience run short
Those who hold this view read the words as the Bible uses them elsewhere, of someone who can bear no more: when Delilah "pressed him daily with her words", Samson's "soul was troubled to death" (16:16), and in Zechariah, "my soul was weary of them" (Zechariah 11:8). On this reading the LORD had had enough of Israel's misery, and the verse doesn't say whether pity or their turning is what moved him. They note that the LORD's last words to Israel in the chapter are "Let them save you in the time of your distress!" (10:14), and that in the next chapter it is the elders of Gilead who go "to get Jephthah" (11:5).
Zechariah 11:8 · Judges 16:16 · Judges 10:14 · Judges 11:5
The verses
“They put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.”
“When the LORD raised up judges for them, then the LORD was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it grieved the LORD because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.”
“They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. The soul of the people was very discouraged because of the journey.”
“When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, his soul was troubled to death.”