Judges 13:6

13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God ¹  came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. ²  I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

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. ³  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

Judges 16:13

16:13 Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair ⁴  into the fabric on the loom ⁵  and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Judges 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret. ⁶  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ⁷  for I have been dedicated to God ⁸  from the time I was conceived. ⁹  If my head ¹⁰  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

Judges 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ¹¹  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ¹²  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ¹³  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ¹⁴  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ¹⁵ 

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¹ tn Heb “The man of God.”

² tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”

³ tn Heb “our hand.”

⁴ tn Heb “head” (also in the following verse). By metonymy the head is mentioned in the Hebrew text in place of the hair on it.

⁵ tn Heb “with the web.” For a discussion of how Delilah did this, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 381, and G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 353-54.

⁶ tn Heb “all his heart.”

⁷ tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

⁸ 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”).

⁹ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).

¹¹ tn Or “went.”

¹² tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

¹³ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

¹⁵ tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.