Judges 9:49

9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches ¹  against the stronghold and set fire to it. ²  All the people ³  of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

Judges 13:16

13:16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, ⁴  I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) ⁵ 

Judges 13:23

13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. ⁶  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

Judges 14:15

14:15 On the fourth ⁷  day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. ⁸  If you refuse, ⁹  we will burn up ¹⁰  you and your father’s family. ¹¹  Did you invite us here ¹²  to make us poor?” ¹³ 

Judges 14:19

14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes ¹⁴  and gave them ¹⁵  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. ¹⁶ 

Judges 16:9

16:9 They hid ¹⁷  in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, ¹⁸  Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. ¹⁹  The secret of his strength was not discovered. ²⁰ 

[9:49]  ¹ tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:49]  ² tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”

[9:49]  ³ tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.

[13:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “If you detain me.”

[13:16]  ⁵ tn The words “he said this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Manoah should have known from these words that the messenger represented the Lord. In the preceding narrative the narrator has informed the reader that the visitor is the Lord’s messenger, but Manoah and his wife did not perceive this. In vv. 5 and 7 the angel refers to “God” (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim), not the Lord (יְהוַה, yÿhvah). Manoah’s wife calls the visitor “a man sent from God” and “God’s messenger” (v. 6), while Manoah prays to the “Lord” (אֲדוֹנָי, ’adonay) and calls the visitor “a man sent from God” (v. 8).

[13:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “our hand.”

[14:15]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי (rÿvi’i, “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי (shÿvi’i, “seventh”). Some ancient textual witnesses (e.g., LXX and the Syriac Peshitta) read “fourth,” here, which certainly harmonizes better with the preceding verse (cf. “for three days”) and with v. 17. Another option is to change שְׁלֹשֶׁת (shÿloshet, “three”) at the end of v. 14 to שֵׁשֶׁת (sheshet, “six”), but the resulting scenario does not account as well for v. 17, which implies the bride had been hounding Samson for more than one day.

[14:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”

[14:15]  ¹² tn Heb “lest.”

[14:15]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text expands the statement: “burn up with fire.” The words “with fire” are redundant in English and have been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[14:15]  ¹⁵ tc The translation assumes the Hebrew form הֲלֹם (halom, “here,” attested in five Hebrew mss and supported by the Targum), instead of the inexplicable הֲלֹא (halo’), a negative particle with interrogative particle prefixed to it.

[14:15]  ¹⁶ tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364.

[14:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”

[14:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”

[14:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”

[16:9]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “when it smells fire.”

[16:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “His strength was not known.”