Judges 9:48

9:48 He and all his men ¹  went up on Mount Zalmon. He ²  took an ax ³  in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it ⁴  on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” ⁵ 

Judges 16:9

16:9 They hid ⁶  in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, ⁷  Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. ⁸  The secret of his strength was not discovered. ⁹ 

Judges 16:14

16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ¹⁰  Samson!” ¹¹  He woke up ¹²  and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.

[9:48]  ¹ tn Heb “his people.”

[9:48]  ² tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.

[9:48]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.

[9:48]  ⁴ tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”

[9:48]  ⁵ tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”

[16:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting for her.” The grammatically singular form וְהָאֹרֵב (vÿha’orev) is collective here, referring to the rulers as a group (so also in v. 16).

[16:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “when it smells fire.”

[16:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “His strength was not known.”

[16:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:14]  ¹² tc The MT of vv. 13b-14a reads simply, “He said to her, ‘If you weave the seven braids of my head with the web.’ And she fastened with the pin and said to him.” The additional words in the translation, “and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.’ 16:14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom,” which without doubt represent the original text, are supplied from the ancient Greek version. (In both vv. 13b and 14a the Greek version has “to the wall” after “with the pin,” but this is an interpretive addition that reflects a misunderstanding of ancient weaving equipment. See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 353-54.) The Hebrew textual tradition was accidentally shortened during the copying process. A scribe’s eye jumped from the first instance of “with the web” to the second, causing him to leave out inadvertently the intervening words.

[16:14]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.