Judges 15:16

15:16 Samson then said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey

I have left them in heaps; ¹ 

with the jawbone of a donkey

I have struck down a thousand men!”

Judges 15:15

15:15 He happened to see ²  a solid ³  jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it ⁴  and struck down ⁵  a thousand men.

Judges 15:17

15:17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down ⁶  and named that place Ramath Lehi. ⁷ 

Judges 15:19

15:19 So God split open the basin ⁸  at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength ⁹  was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring ¹⁰  En Hakkore. ¹¹  It remains in Lehi to this very day.

[15:16]  ¹ 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”).

[15:15]  ² tn Heb “he found.”

[15:15]  ³ tn Heb “fresh,” i.e., not decayed and brittle.

[15:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “he reached out his hand and took it.”

[15:15]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text adds “with it.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:17]  ³ tn Heb “from his hand.”

[15:17]  ⁴ sn The name Ramath Lehi means “Height of the Jawbone.”

[15:19]  ⁴ tn The word translated “basin” refers to a circular-shaped depression in the land’s surface.

[15:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “spirit.”

[15:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “named it”; the referent (the spring) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:19]  ⁷ sn The name En Hakkore means “Spring of the one who cries out.”