Judges 15:14-20

Context
15:14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered¹ him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in² fire, and they³ melted away from his hands. 15:15 He happened to see⁴ a solid⁵ jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it⁶ and struck down⁷ a thousand men. 15:16 Samson then said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey

I have left them in heaps;⁸

with the jawbone of a donkey

I have struck down a thousand men!”

15:17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down⁹ and named that place Ramath Lehi.¹⁰

15:18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant¹¹ this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?”¹² 15:19 So God split open the basin¹³ at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength¹⁴ was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring¹⁵ En Hakkore.¹⁶ It remains in Lehi to this very day. 15:20 Samson led¹⁷ Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.¹⁸

[15:14] ¹tn Heb “rushed on.”

[15:14] ²tn Heb “burned with.”

[15:14] ³tn Heb “his bonds.”

[15:15] ⁴tn Heb “he found.”

[15:15] ⁵tn Heb “fresh,” i.e., not decayed and brittle.

[15:15] ⁶tn Heb “he reached out his hand and took it.”

[15:15] ⁷tn The Hebrew text adds “with it.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:16] ⁸tn 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”).

[15:17] ⁹tn Heb “from his hand.”

[15:17] ¹⁰sn The name Ramath Lehi means “Height of the Jawbone.”

[15:18] ¹¹tn Heb “you have placed into the hand of your servant.”

[15:18] ¹²tn Heb “the uncircumcised,” which in context refers to the Philistines.

[15:19] ¹³tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface.

[15:19] ¹⁴tn Heb “spirit.”

[15:19] ¹⁵tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:19] ¹⁶sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.”

[15:20] ¹⁷tn Traditionally, “judged.”

[15:20] ¹⁸tn Heb “in the days of the Philistines.”