1tn Heb “and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.” 2tn Heb “and he went up.” 3tn Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.” 4tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading. 5tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?” 6tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357. 7tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.” 8tn Heb “this was from the LORD.” 9tn Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.” 10tc The MT reads, “Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When they approached…” Verse 6b states that Samson did not tell his parents about his encounter with the lion (vv. 5b-6a), but v. 5a gives the impression they would have seen the entire episode. One could assume that Samson separated from his parents prior to the lion’s attack, but the Hebrew text does not indicate this. It seems more likely that the words “with his father and his mother” were accidentally copied into the text, perhaps under the influence of v. 4a, where the same phrase appears. An original singular verb (“he approached”) may have been changed to the plural form (“they approached”) after the words “his father and his mother” were accidentally added to the text. 11tn Heb “and look, a young lion of the lions was roaring to meet him.” 12tn Heb “rushed on.” 13tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 14tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.” 15tn Heb “He went down.” 16tn Heb “She was the right one in the eyes of Samson.” 17tn Heb “get.” 18tn Heb “and look, a swarm of bees…” 19tn Heb “went.” Samson apparently went home to his parents before going to Timnah for the marriage. Seeing and tasting the honey appears to encourage Manoah to go with his son to Timnah. Perhaps both Samson and his father viewed the honey as a good omen of future blessing. Possibly Samson considered it a symbol of sexual pleasure or an aphrodisiac. Note the use of honey imagery in Song 4:11 and 5:1. 20sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6. 21tn Heb “And his father went down to the woman.” 22tn Or “[wedding] feast.” 23tn Heb “the young men.” 24tn Heb “When they saw him, they gave him thirty companions and they were with him.” Instead of כִּרְאוֹתָם (kir’otam, “when they saw”) some ancient witnesses (e.g., some mss of the LXX) assume the reading בְּיִרְאָתָם (b˙yir’atam, “because they feared”). 25tn Heb “If you really can tell it to me [during] the seven days of the feast and you find [its answer].” 26tn Heb “changes.” 27tn Heb “you are unable to tell me.” 28tn Heb “Give your riddle so we can hear it.” 29tc The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי (r˙vi’i, “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי (sh˙vi’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 (sh˙loshet, “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. 30tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.” 31tn Heb “lest.” 32tn 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. 33tn Heb “house.” 34tc 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. 35tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364. 36tn Heb “on him.” 37tn Heb “only”; or “simply.” 38tn Heb “the sons of my people.” 39tn Heb “Should I tell you?” 40tn Heb “on him.” 41tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day. 42tn Heb “because she forced him.” 43tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.” 44sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s. 45tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.” 46tn Heb “changes [of clothes].” 47tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.” 48tn Heb “to his companion who had been his attendant.”
1tn Heb “and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”
2tn Heb “and he went up.”
3tn Heb “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.”
4tn Heb “my.” The singular may seem strange, since the introduction to the quotation attributes the words to his father and mother. But Samson’s father apparently speaks for both himself and his wife. However, the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta have a second person pronoun here (“you”), and this may represent the original reading.
5tn Heb “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people a woman that you have to go to get a wife among the uncircumcised Philistines?”
6tn “Her” is first in the Hebrew word order for emphasis. Samson wanted this Philistine girl, no one else. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 357.
7tn Heb “because she is right in my eyes.”
8tn Heb “this was from the LORD.”
9tn Heb “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.”
10tc The MT reads, “Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When they approached…” Verse 6b states that Samson did not tell his parents about his encounter with the lion (vv. 5b-6a), but v. 5a gives the impression they would have seen the entire episode. One could assume that Samson separated from his parents prior to the lion’s attack, but the Hebrew text does not indicate this. It seems more likely that the words “with his father and his mother” were accidentally copied into the text, perhaps under the influence of v. 4a, where the same phrase appears. An original singular verb (“he approached”) may have been changed to the plural form (“they approached”) after the words “his father and his mother” were accidentally added to the text.
11tn Heb “and look, a young lion of the lions was roaring to meet him.”
12tn Heb “rushed on.”
13tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14tn Heb “and there was nothing in his hand.”
15tn Heb “He went down.”
16tn Heb “She was the right one in the eyes of Samson.”
17tn Heb “get.”
18tn Heb “and look, a swarm of bees…”
19tn Heb “went.” Samson apparently went home to his parents before going to Timnah for the marriage. Seeing and tasting the honey appears to encourage Manoah to go with his son to Timnah. Perhaps both Samson and his father viewed the honey as a good omen of future blessing. Possibly Samson considered it a symbol of sexual pleasure or an aphrodisiac. Note the use of honey imagery in Song 4:11 and 5:1.
20sn Touching the carcass of a dead animal undoubtedly violated Samson’s Nazirite status. See Num 6:6.
21tn Heb “And his father went down to the woman.”
22tn Or “[wedding] feast.”
23tn Heb “the young men.”
24tn Heb “When they saw him, they gave him thirty companions and they were with him.” Instead of כִּרְאוֹתָם (kir’otam, “when they saw”) some ancient witnesses (e.g., some mss of the LXX) assume the reading בְּיִרְאָתָם (b˙yir’atam, “because they feared”).
25tn Heb “If you really can tell it to me [during] the seven days of the feast and you find [its answer].”
26tn Heb “changes.”
27tn Heb “you are unable to tell me.”
28tn Heb “Give your riddle so we can hear it.”
29tc The MT reads “seventh.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words רְבִיעִי (r˙vi’i, “fourth”) and שְׁבִיעִי (sh˙vi’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 (sh˙loshet, “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.
30tn Heb “Entice your husband so that he might tell us the riddle.”
31tn Heb “lest.”
32tn 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.
33tn Heb “house.”
34tc 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.
35tn For discussion of this difficult form, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 364.
36tn Heb “on him.”
37tn Heb “only”; or “simply.”
38tn Heb “the sons of my people.”
39tn Heb “Should I tell you?”
40tn Heb “on him.”
41tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.
42tn Heb “because she forced him.”
43tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”
44sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.
45tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”
46tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”
47tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”
48tn Heb “to his companion who had been his attendant.”