Judges 15 (NET)

Samson Versus the Philistines

1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest,1 Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride.2 He said to her father,3 “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!”4 But her father would not let him enter. 2 Her father said, “I really thought5 you absolutely despised6 her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!”7 3 Samson said to them,8 “This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!”9 4 Samson went and captured three hundred jackals10 and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair.11 5 He lit the torches12 and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 6 The Philistines asked,13 “Who did this?” They were told,14 “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite15 took Samson’s16 bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.17 7 Samson said to them, “Because you did this,18 I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.”19 8 He struck them down and defeated them.20 Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.

9 The Philistines went up and invaded21 Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle22 in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking23 us?” The Philistines24 said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.” 11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.” 12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me25 you will not kill26 me.” 13 They said to him, “We promise!27 We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff. 14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered28 him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in29 fire, and they30 melted away from his hands. 15 He happened to see31 a solid32 jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it33 and struck down34 a thousand men. 16 Samson then said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey

I have left them in heaps;35

with the jawbone of a donkey

I have struck down a thousand men!”

17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down36 and named that place Ramath Lehi.37

18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant38 this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?”39 19 So God split open the basin40 at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength41 was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring42 En Hakkore.43 It remains in Lehi to this very day. 20 Samson led44 Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.45

115:1sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88. 215:1tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.” 315:1tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse). 415:1tn Heb “I will go to my wife in the bedroom.” The Hebrew idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations. The cohortative form used by Samson can be translated as indicating resolve (“I want to go”) or request (“let me go”). 515:2tn Heb “saying, I said.” The first person form of אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) sometimes indicates self-reflection. The girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis. 615:2tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis. 715:2tn Heb “Is her younger sister not better than her? Let her [i.e., the younger sister] be yours instead of her [i.e., Samson’s ‘bride’]).” 815:3tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the singular “to him.” 915:3tn Heb “I am innocent this time from the Philistines when I do with them harm.” 1015:4tn Traditionally, “foxes.” 1115:4tn Heb “He turned tail to tail and placed one torch between the two tails in the middle.” 1215:5tn Heb “He set fire to the torches.” 1315:6tn Or “said.” 1415:6tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite. 1515:6tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 1615:6tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 1715:6tn The Hebrew text expands the statement with the additional phrase “burned with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons. Some textual witnesses read “burned…her father’s house,” perhaps under the influence of 14:15. On the other hand, the shorter text may have lost this phrase due to haplography. 1815:7tn The Niphal of נָקָם (naqam, “to avenge, to take vengeance”) followed by the preposition ב (bet) has the force “to get revenge against.” See 1 Sam 18:25; Jer 50:15; Ezek 25:12. 1915:7tn Heb “and afterward I will stop.” 2015:8tn Heb “He struck them, calf on thigh, [with] a great slaughter.” The precise meaning of the phrase “calf on thigh” is uncertain. 2115:9tn Or “camped in.” 2215:9tn Or “spread out.” The Niphal of נָטָשׁ (natash) has this same sense in 2 Sam 5:18, 22. 2315:10tn Or “come up against.” 2415:10tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 2515:12tn Or “swear to me.” 2615:12tn Heb “meet [with hostility]”; “harm.” In light of v. 13, “kill” is an appropriate translation. 2715:13tn Heb “No,” meaning that they will not harm him. 2815:14tn Heb “rushed on.” 2915:14tn Heb “burned with.” 3015:14tn Heb “his bonds.” 3115:15tn Heb “he found.” 3215:15tn Heb “fresh,” i.e., not decayed and brittle. 3315:15tn Heb “he reached out his hand and took it.” 3415:15tn The Hebrew text adds “with it.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons. 3515:16tn The precise meaning of the second half of the line (חֲמוֹר חֲמֹרָתָיִם, khamor khamoratayim) is uncertain. The present translation assumes that the phrase means, “a heap, two heaps” and refers to the heaps of corpses littering the battlefield. Other options include: (a) “I have made donkeys of them” (cf. NIV; see C. F. Burney, Judges, 373, for a discussion of this view, which understands a denominative verb from the noun “donkey”); (b) “I have thoroughly skinned them” (see HALOT 330 s.v. IV cj. חמר, which appeals to an Arabic cognate for support); (c) “I have stormed mightily against them,” which assumes the verb חָמַר (khamar, “to ferment; to foam; to boil up”). 3615:17tn Heb “from his hand.” 3715:17sn The name Ramath Lehi means “Height of the Jawbone.” 3815:18tn Heb “you have placed into the hand of your servant.” 3915:18tn Heb “the uncircumcised,” which in context refers to the Philistines. 4015:19tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface. 4115:19tn Heb “spirit.” 4215:19tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 4315:19sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.” 4415:20tn Traditionally, “judged.” 4515:20tn Heb “in the days of the Philistines.”