Judges 14:1-9

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Judges 14:1 tn Heb “and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”
2. Judges 14:2 tn Heb “and he went up.”
3. Judges 14:2 tn Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”
4. Judges 14:3 tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading.
5. Judges 14:3 tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?”
6. Judges 14:3 tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357.
7. Judges 14:3 tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”
8. Judges 14:4 tn Heb “this was from the LORD.”
9. Judges 14:4 tn Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.”
10. Judges 14:5 tc The Hebrew includes “and his father and his mother.” See the next note.
11. Judges 14:5 tc The MT reads “they approached,” while the LXX reads “he approached.” The previous sentence suggests that his parents were there, reading literally, “he went down, Samson and his father and his mother, to Timnah.” But the story line suggests that his parents were not there, as v. 6b reports that Samson did not tell them about the incident. The following sentence begins with וְהִנֵּה (v^ehinneh, “and behold”). This particle is used to focus or shift attention, typically pointing something out or introducing it into the scene (here the lion). But the scene that וְהִנֵּה comments on is set by the previous verb. If the verb “approached” were plural, then Samson’s parents should be with him when the lion attacks, something that contradicts the story as a whole. This indicates the verb should be singular. Since the previous verb, “went down,” is also singular (so also v. 7a), the phrase “and his father and his mother” may have been accidentally copied into the text under the influence of v. 4a. Later the verb was changed to “they approached” to account for the addition, but not until after the LXX was translated. Or one might suppose that his parents had gone on this trip down to Timnah (retaining “and his father and his mother”), but he had separated from them before approaching to the vineyards.
12. Judges 14:5 tn Heb “and look, a young lion of the lions was roaring to meet him.”
13. Judges 14:6 tn Heb “rushed on.”
14. Judges 14:6 tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15. Judges 14:6 tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”
16. Judges 14:7 tn Heb “He went down.”
17. Judges 14:7 tn Heb “She was the right one in the eyes of Samson.”
18. Judges 14:8 tn Heb “get.”
19. Judges 14:8 tn Heb “and look, a swarm of bees….”
20. Judges 14:9 tn Heb “went.” Samson apparently went home to his parents before going to Timnah for the marriage. Seeing and tasting the honey appears to encourage Manoah to go with his son to Timnah. Perhaps both Samson and his father viewed the honey as a good omen of future blessing. Possibly Samson considered it a symbol of sexual pleasure or an aphrodisiac. Note the use of honey imagery in Song 4:11 and 5:1.
21. Judges 14:9 sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6.