Judges 15
Common English Bible
Samson attacks the Philistines
15 Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a young goat. He said, “Let me go into my wife’s bedroom.”
But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in. 2 Her father said, “I was so sure that you had completely rejected her that I gave her in marriage to one of your companions. Don’t you think her younger sister is even better? Let her be your wife instead.”
3 Samson replied, “No one can blame me now for being ready to bring down trouble on the Philistines!”
4 Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 He lit the torches and released the foxes into the Philistines’ grain fields. So he burned the stacked grain, standing grain, vineyards, and olive orchards.
6 The Philistines inquired, “Who did this?”
So it was reported, “Samson the Timnite’s son-in-law did it, because his father-in-law gave his wife in marriage to one of his companions.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
7 Samson then responded to them, “If this is how you act, then I won’t stop until I get revenge on you!” 8 He struck them hard, taking their legs right out from under them.[a] Then he traveled down and stayed in a cave in the rock at Etam.
9 The Philistines marched up, made camp in Judah, and released their forces on Lehi. 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you marched up against us?”
“We’ve marched up to take Samson prisoner,” they replied, “and to do to him just what he did to us.”
11 So three thousand people from Judah traveled down to the cave in the rock at Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?”
But he told them, “I did to them just what they did to me.”
12 Then the people of Judah said to him, “We’ve come down to take you prisoner so we can turn you over to the Philistines.”
Samson responded to them, “Just promise that you won’t attack me yourselves.”
13 “We won’t,” they said to him. “We’ll only take you prisoner so we can turn you over to them. We won’t kill you.” Then they tied him up with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14 When Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines met him and came out shouting. The Lord’s spirit rushed over him, the ropes on his arms became like burned-up linen, and the ties melted right off his hands. 15 He found a donkey’s fresh jawbone, picked it up, and used it to attack one thousand men. 16 Samson said,
“With a donkey’s jawbone,
stacks on stacks!
With a donkey’s jawbone,
I’ve killed one thousand men.”
17 When he finished speaking, he tossed away the jawbone. So that place became known as Ramath-lehi.[b]
18 Now Samson was very thirsty, so he called out to the Lord, “You are the one who allowed this great victory to be accomplished by your servant’s hands. Am I now going to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split open the hollow rock in Lehi, and water flowed out of it. When Samson drank, his energy returned and he was recharged. Thus that place is still called by the name En-hakkore[c] in Lehi today.
20 Samson led Israel for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.
Footnotes
- Judges 15:8 Or struck them hip and thigh
- Judges 15:17 Or Jawbone Hill
- Judges 15:19 Or Caller’s Spring
Judges 15
New English Translation
Samson Versus the Philistines
15 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest,[a] Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride.[b] He said to her father,[c] “I want to sleep with[d] my bride in her bedroom!”[e] But her father would not let him enter. 2 Her father said, “I really thought[f] you absolutely despised[g] her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!”[h] 3 Samson said to them,[i] “This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!”[j] 4 Samson went and captured 300 jackals[k] and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair.[l] 5 He lit the torches[m] 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,[n] “Who did this?” They were told,[o] “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite[p] took Samson’s[q] bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.[r] 7 Samson said to them, “Because you did this,[s] I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.”[t] 8 He struck them down and defeated them.[u] Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and invaded[v] Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle[w] in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking[x] us?” The Philistines[y] said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.” 11 So 3,000 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 me[z] you will not kill[aa] me.” 13 They said to him, “We promise![ab] 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 empowered[ac] him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in[ad] fire, and they[ae] melted away from his hands. 15 He happened to see[af] a solid[ag] jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it[ah] and struck down[ai] 1,000 men. 16 Samson then said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey
I have left them in heaps;[aj]
with the jawbone of a donkey
I have struck down a thousand men!”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down[ak] and named that place Ramath Lehi.[al]
18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant[am] this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into the hands of these uncircumcised Philistines?”[an] 19 So God split open the basin[ao] at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength[ap] was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring[aq] En Hakkore.[ar] It remains in Lehi to this very day. 20 Samson led[as] Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.[at]
Footnotes
- Judges 15:1 sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.
- Judges 15:1 tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”
- Judges 15:1 tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).
- Judges 15:1 tn Heb “I want to approach.” The verb בּוֹא (boʾ) with the preposition אֶל (ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Judges 15:1 tn Heb “I will go to my wife in the bedroom.” The Hebrew idiom בּוֹא אֶל (boʾ ʾel, “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”).
- Judges 15:2 tn Heb “saying, I said.” The first person form of אָמַר (ʾamar, “to say”) sometimes indicates self-reflection. The girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.
- Judges 15:2 tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.
- Judges 15:2 tn 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’]).”
- Judges 15:3 tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the singular “to him.”
- Judges 15:3 tn Heb “I am innocent this time from the Philistines when I do with them harm.”
- Judges 15:4 tn Traditionally, “foxes.”
- Judges 15:4 tn Heb “He turned tail to tail and placed one torch between the two tails in the middle.”
- Judges 15:5 tn Heb “He set fire to the torches.”
- Judges 15:6 tn Or “said.”
- Judges 15:6 tn Heb “and they said.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.
- Judges 15:6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Timnite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 15:6 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Samson) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 15:6 tn 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.
- Judges 15:7 tn 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.
- Judges 15:7 tn Heb “and afterward I will stop.”
- Judges 15:8 tn Heb “He struck them, calf on thigh, [with] a great slaughter.” The precise meaning of the phrase “calf on thigh” is uncertain.
- Judges 15:9 tn Or “camped in.”
- Judges 15:9 tn Or “spread out.” The Niphal of נָטָשׁ (natash) has this same sense in 2 Sam 5:18, 22.
- Judges 15:10 tn Or “come up against.”
- Judges 15:10 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 15:12 tn Or “swear to me.”
- Judges 15:12 tn Heb “meet [with hostility]”; “harm.” In light of v. 13, “kill” is an appropriate translation.
- Judges 15:13 tn Heb “No,” meaning that they will not harm him.
- Judges 15:14 tn Heb “rushed on.”
- Judges 15:14 tn Heb “burned with.”
- Judges 15:14 tn Heb “his bonds.”
- Judges 15:15 tn Heb “he found.”
- Judges 15:15 tn Heb “fresh,” i.e., not decayed and brittle.
- Judges 15:15 tn Heb “he reached out his hand and took it.”
- Judges 15:15 tn The Hebrew text adds “with it.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Judges 15:16 tn 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”).
- Judges 15:17 tn Heb “from his hand.”
- Judges 15:17 sn The name Ramath Lehi means “Height of the Jawbone.”
- Judges 15:18 tn Heb “you have placed into the hand of your servant.”
- Judges 15:18 tn Heb “the hand of uncircumcised.” “Hand” often represents power or control. “The uncircumcised [ones]” is used as a pejorative and in the context refers to the Philistines.
- Judges 15:19 tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface.
- Judges 15:19 tn Heb “spirit.”
- Judges 15:19 tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 15:19 sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.”
- Judges 15:20 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
- Judges 15:20 tn Heb “in the days of the Philistines.”
士師記 15
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
參孫向非利士人報仇
15 過了些日子，在割麥的時候，參孫帶著一隻山羊羔去探望他妻子。他說：「我要進內室見我妻子。」他岳父卻不讓他進去， 2 並對他說：「我以為你非常恨她，所以我把她改嫁給你的伴郎了。她妹子不是比她更美麗嗎？你可以娶來代替她。」
3 參孫說：「這次我要加害非利士人，可不能怪我了。」
4 於是，他出去捉了三百隻狐狸，把牠們的尾巴一對一對綁起來，將火把綁在兩條尾巴中間， 5 然後點燃火把，把狐狸放進非利士人的麥田裡，將割好的麥捆和未割的麥子、葡萄園和橄欖園都燒毀了。 6 非利士人問：「這是誰幹的？」有人回答說：「是亭拿人的女婿參孫幹的，因為他岳父把他的妻子嫁給了他的伴郎。」非利士人就去放火燒死了參孫的妻子和岳父。 7 參孫說：「你們既然這樣做，我不向你們報仇誓不甘休。」 8 參孫大肆擊殺他們，殺死了很多人。事後，他下到以坦，住在那裡的岩洞裡。
9 非利士人進犯猶大，在利希一帶紮營。 10 猶大人問他們：「你們為什麼來攻打我們？」非利士人回答說：「我們來捉拿參孫，向他以報還報。」 11 於是，有三千猶大人去以坦的岩洞找參孫，對他說：「難道你不知道非利士人是我們的統治者嗎？你為什麼連累我們？」參孫回答說：「我只是以牙還牙。」 12 猶大人說：「我們來是要捉拿你，把你交給非利士人。」參孫說：「你們要保證你們不會親手殺我。」 13 他們說：「我們不會殺你，只將你綁起來交給非利士人。」於是，他們用兩根新繩子把參孫捆綁起來帶出岩洞。
14 非利士人看見參孫來到利希，就呐喊著迎了上去。耶和華的靈降在參孫身上，綁在他手臂上的繩子就像被火燒的麻線一樣脫落下來。 15 他看到一塊還沒有乾的驢腮骨，就撿起來用它殺了一千個非利士人。 16 參孫說：
「用這驢腮骨，我殺人成堆；
用這驢腮骨，我殺戮千人。」
17 說完，他扔掉了手中的驢腮骨。因此，那地方叫拉末·利希[a]。
18 參孫覺得非常口渴，便向耶和華呼求說：「你既然藉著僕人的手大敗敵人，難道你會讓我渴死、落在這些未受割禮的人手中嗎？」 19 於是，上帝使利希的一處窪地裂開，湧出水來。參孫喝後恢復了精神。因此，那水泉叫隱哈·歌利[b]。那水泉今天還在利希。 20 在非利士人統治期間，參孫做以色列的士師二十年。
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