Judges 15: The foxes, the fires and the jawbone
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What happens?
Samson comes back for his wife and finds that her father has given her to his companion. He ties three hundred foxes tail to tail with torches and burns the Philistines' grain and olive groves, and the Philistines burn his wife and her father. Samson strikes them with a great slaughter and stays in the rock of Etam. Three thousand men of Judah tie him up and bring him to Lehi to hand him over to the Philistines, but Yahweh's Spirit rushes on him, the ropes fall off, and with a fresh jawbone of a donkey he kills a thousand men. He is very thirsty and calls on Yahweh, and God splits open a hollow place and water comes out. He judges Israel twenty years.
Who is speaking?
The narrator tells the story. No verse is in gold. Samson speaks in verses 1, 3, 7, 11, 12 and 16. His wife's father answers him in verse 2. The Philistines ask and are answered in verse 6, and they answer the men of Judah in verse 10. The men of Judah speak to Samson in verses 11 to 13. In verse 18 Samson calls on Yahweh. God's own words are printed in gold, and those verses are marked God speaks
1But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He said, “I will go in to my wife’s room.” But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in.
In plain English: Some time later (literally: after days), at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, taking a young goat. He said, "I will go in to my wife in her room." But her father would not let him go in.
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2Her father said, “I most certainly thought that you utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please, take her instead.”
In plain English: Her father said, "I really thought you hated her completely (the Hebrew repeats both verbs), so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful (literally: better) than she is? Please, let her be yours instead."
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3Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines when I harm them.”
In plain English: Samson said to them, "This time I will be blameless (or: free; literally: clean) toward the Philistines when I do them harm."
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4Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the middle between every two tails.
In plain English: So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes (or: jackals). He took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails.
The Hebrew word: "Foxes" is shu'al, which the dictionary gives as "a jackal (as a burrower)".
How it is translated: This Bible says "fox" or a longer form in 5 of the 6 verses that use shu'al, and "jackal" in 1, .
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5When he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the olive groves.
In plain English: He set the torches on fire and let the foxes loose in the Philistines' standing grain. He burned up both the heaps of sheaves (this Bible: shocks) and the standing grain, and also the olive groves (literally: the vineyard of olive; or: the vineyards and the olives).
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6Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” They said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” The Philistines came up, and burned her and her father with fire.
In plain English: The Philistines said, "Who has done this?" They were told (this Bible: they said), "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he (the Timnite) took his wife (Samson's wife) and gave her to his companion." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father with fire.
Good to know: This is what the companions had threatened Samson's wife with in : "lest we burn you and your father's house with fire". The Hebrew says only "he has taken his wife". Verse 2 tells that it was the Timnite, her father, who gave her to Samson's companion.
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7Samson said to them, “If you behave like this, surely I will take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.”
In plain English: Samson said to them, "If (or: since) you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will stop."
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8He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock.
In plain English: He struck them hip and thigh (literally: leg on thigh) with a great slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in the cleft (this Bible: cave) of the rock of Etam.
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9Then the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
In plain English: Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and spread out at Lehi.
The Hebrew word: Lehi is lechi, the word for "jawbone" in verses 15 to 17. The dictionary gives it as "the cheek (from its fleshiness); hence, the jaw-bone". The text calls the place Lehi here, before it tells of the jawbone.
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10The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”
In plain English: The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" They said, "We have come up to tie up (this Bible: bind) Samson, to do to him as he did to us."
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11Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in Etam’s rock, and said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
In plain English: Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done to us?" He said to them, "As they did to me, so I have done to them."
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12They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”
In plain English: They said to him, "We have come down to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves."
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13They spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you securely and deliver you into their hands; but surely we will not kill you.” They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
In plain English: They said to him, "No, but we will tie you up firmly and hand you over to them. We will surely not kill you." So they tied him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
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14When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire; and his bands dropped from off his hands.
In plain English: When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then Yahweh's Spirit (or: spirit) rushed on him (this Bible: came mightily on him). The ropes on his arms became like flax that has been burned with fire, and his bonds melted (this Bible: dropped) off his hands.
The Hebrew word: "Dropped" is masas, which the dictionary gives as "to liquefy". This Bible says "melt" or a longer form in 17 of the 20 verses that use it, so the bonds can be read as melting off his hands. "Came mightily" and "Spirit" are explained in the notes on and .
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15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
In plain English: He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and with it he struck down a thousand men.
The Hebrew word: "Fresh" is tari, which the dictionary gives as "properly, dripping; hence, fresh (i.e. recently made such)". It is used in only one other verse, , of open sores.
Good to know: As with the lion (), the text does not comment on the Nazirite rule about a dead body.
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16Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.”
In plain English: Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps (literally: a heap, two heaps). With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men."
The Hebrew words: "Heaps on heaps" is literally "a heap, two heaps". In this verse the Hebrew word for "heap" is spelled the same as chamor, "donkey". The dictionary gives the one as "a heap" and the other as "a male ass". So Samson's words sound like "with the jawbone of a donkey, a donkey, two donkeys". This is the only verse that uses this word for "heap".
What changes: Read as "heaps", Samson says the dead lay in heaps. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) reads the same letters as a verb: "I have utterly destroyed them". Either way, he goes on, "I have struck a thousand men."
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17When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath Lehi.
In plain English: When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand, and that place was called (literally: he called that place) Ramath Lehi.
Good to know: Ramath sounds like ramah, which the dictionary gives as "a height", so Ramath Lehi can be read "the hill of the jawbone". The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) calls it "the Lifting of the jaw-bone".
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18He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
In plain English: He was very thirsty, and he called out to Yahweh and said, "You have given this great deliverance (or: victory) by the hand of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"
The Hebrew word: "Deliverance" is teshu'ah, which the dictionary gives as "rescue (literal or figurative, persons, national or spiritual)". This Bible says "salvation" in 14 of the 32 verses that use it, "victory" in 10, and "deliverance" only here.
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19But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day.
In plain English: Then God split open the hollow place (or: the socket) that is at Lehi (or: in the jawbone), and water came out of it. When he drank, his spirit (or: breath) came back, and he revived. That is why it was named En Hakkore. It is in Lehi to this day.
The Hebrew words: "Hollow place" is maktesh, which the dictionary gives as "a mortar; by analogy, a socket (of a tooth)". The verse says "in Lehi" twice. The first time, the Hebrew can be read as "in the jawbone", and the old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "a hollow place in the jaw".
What changes: Read as the place Lehi, the water came out of a hollow in the ground there. Read as "in the jawbone", it came out of a socket in the jawbone itself. Either way, the verse says God split it open and Samson drank.
Good to know: The text gives the reason for the name. En is the word the dictionary gives as "an eye" and "a fountain", a spring. Hakkore sounds like qara, the word for "called on Yahweh" in verse 18, and can be read "the one who calls". So En Hakkore can be read "the spring of the one who called"; Brenton has "The well of the invoker".
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20He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
In plain English: He judged (or: led) Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
The Hebrew word: "Judged" is shaphat, which the dictionary gives as "to judge, i.e. pronounce sentence (for or against); by implication, to vindicate or punish; by extension, to govern". So "he judged Israel" can be read as settling cases or as leading and ruling. gives the same twenty years again.
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