translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JDG

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”


text: Heb “and he went up.”


text: Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”


text: 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.


text: 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?”


text: “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges , 357.


text: Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”


text: Heb “this was from the LORD.”


text: Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.”


label: NET textual note

text: The MT reads, “Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When they approached…” Verse 6 b states that Samson did not tell his parents about his encounter with the lion (vv. 5 b-6a), but v. 5 a gives the impression they would have seen the entire episode. One could assume that Samson separated from his parents prior to the lion’s attack, but the Hebrew text does not indicate this. It seems more likely that the words “with his father and his mother” were accidentally copied into the text, perhaps under the influence of v. 4 a, where the same phrase appears. An original singular verb (“he approached”) may have been changed to the plural form (“they approached”) after the words “his father and his mother” were accidentally added to the text.


text: Heb “and look, a young lion of the lions was roaring to meet him.”


text: Heb “rushed on.”


text: Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”


text: Heb “He went down.”


text: Heb “She was the right one in the eyes of Samson.”


text: Heb “get.”


text: Heb “and look, a swarm of bees…”


text: 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 .


text: Heb “And his father went down to the woman.”


text: Or “[wedding] feast.”


text: Heb “the young men.”


text: Heb “When they saw him, they gave him thirty companions and they were with him.” Instead of כִּרְאוֹתָם ( kir ’ otam , “when they saw”) some ancient witnesses (e.g., some mss of the LXX) assume the reading בְּיִרְאָתָם ( bÿyir ’ atam , “because they feared”).


text: Heb “If you really can tell it to me [during] the seven days of the feast and you find [its answer].”


text: Heb “changes.”


text: Heb “you are unable to tell me.”


text: Heb “Give your riddle so we can hear it.”


text: The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי ( rÿvi ’ i , “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי ( shÿvi ’ i , “seventh”). Some ancient textual witnesses (e.g., LXX and the Syriac Peshitta) read “fourth,” here, which certainly harmonizes better with the preceding verse (cf. “for three days”) and with v. 17 . Another option is to change שְׁלֹשֶׁת ( shÿloshet , “three”) at the end of v. 14 to שֵׁשֶׁת ( sheshet , “six”), but the resulting scenario does not account as well for v. 17 , which implies the bride had been hounding Samson for more than one day.


text: Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”


text: Heb “lest.”


text: The Hebrew text expands the statement: “burn up with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “house.”


text: The translation assumes the Hebrew form הֲלֹם ( halom , “here,” attested in five Hebrew mss and supported by the Targum), instead of the inexplicable הֲלֹא ( halo ’), a negative particle with interrogative particle prefixed to it.


text: For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges , 364.


text: Heb “on him.”


text: Heb “only”; or “simply.”


text: Heb “the sons of my people.”


text: Heb “Should I tell you?”


text: Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.


text: Heb “because she forced him.”


text: Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”


text: Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”


text: Heb “changes [of clothes].”


text: Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”


text: Heb “to his companion who had been his attendant.”