Judges 19:12

19:12 But his master said to him, “We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. ¹  We will travel on to Gibeah.”

Judges 16:2

16:2 The Gazites were told, ²  “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town ³  and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. ⁴  They relaxed ⁵  all night, thinking, ⁶  “He will not leave ⁷  until morning comes; ⁸  then we will kill him!”

Judges 16:13

16:13 Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair ⁹  into the fabric on the loom ¹⁰  and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

[19:12]  ¹ tn Heb “who are not from the sons of Israel.”

[16:2]  ² tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”

[16:2]  ³ tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.

[16:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”

[16:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “were silent.”

[16:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “saying.”

[16:2]  ⁷ tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

[16:13]  ³ tn Heb “head” (also in the following verse). By metonymy the head is mentioned in the Hebrew text in place of the hair on it.

[16:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “with the web.” For a discussion of how Delilah did this, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 381, and G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 353-54.