Judges 13:5

13:5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  You must never cut his hair, ²  for the child will be dedicated to God ³  from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power ⁴  of the Philistines.”

Judges 15:11

15:11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.”

Judges 16:5

16:5 The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, “Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate ⁵  him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces.”

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 16:30

16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard ¹⁰  and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. ¹¹ 

¹ tn Another option is to translate, “you are already pregnant and will have a son.” The earlier reference to her being infertile (v. 3) suggests that her conception is still future, but it is possible that the earlier statement only reflects her perspective (as far as she is concerned, she is infertile). According to this interpretation, in v. 5 the angel reveals the truth to her – actually she has recently conceived and is now pregnant (see the translation in R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 217). Usage favors this interpretation. The predicate adjective הָרָה (harah, “[be/become] pregnant”) elsewhere has a past (1 Sam 4:19) or present (Gen 16:11; 38:25; 2 Sam 11:5) translation value. (The usage in Isa 7:14 is debated, but a present translation is definitely possible there.) A final, but less likely possibility, is that she miraculously conceived during the angel’s speech, sometime between his statements recorded in vv. 3 and 5.

² tn Heb “a razor should not go up on his head.”

³ tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

⁴ tn Heb “hand.”

⁵ tn Heb “subdue him in order to humiliate him.”

⁹ 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).

¹⁰ tn Heb “are upon you.”

¹¹ tn Heb “when it smells fire.”

¹² tn Heb “His strength was not known.”

¹³ tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”