Text -- Judges 15:1-4 (NET)

Samson Versus the Philistines

15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father, “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” But her father would not let him enter. 15:2 Her father said, “I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” 15:3 Samson said to them, “This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!” 15:4 Samson went and captured three hundred jackals and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 15:1

¹ sn The wheat harvest took place during the month of May. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 37, 88.

² tn Heb “Samson visited his wife with a young goat.”

³ tn The words “to her father” are supplied in the translation (see the end of the verse).

⁴ tn 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”).

NET Notes: Jdg 15:2

¹ tn 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.

² tn Heb “hating, you hated.” Once again the girl’s father uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

³ 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’]).”

NET Notes: Jdg 15:3

¹ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the (original) LXX has the singular “to him.”

² tn Heb “I am innocent this time from the Philistines when I do with them harm.”

NET Notes: Jdg 15:4

¹ tn Traditionally, “foxes.”

² tn Heb “He turned tail to tail and placed one torch between the two tails in the middle.”