Judges 16:2

16:2 The Gazites were told, ¹  “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town ²  and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. ³  They relaxed ⁴  all night, thinking, ⁵  “He will not leave ⁶  until morning comes; ⁷  then we will kill him!”

Judges 16:9

16:9 They hid ⁸  in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, ⁹  Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. ¹⁰  The secret of his strength was not discovered. ¹¹ 

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¹ tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”

² tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.

³ tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”

⁴ tn Heb “were silent.”

⁵ tn Heb “saying.”

⁶ tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁷ tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

⁸ 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).

⁹ tn Heb “are upon you.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “when it smells fire.”

¹¹ tn Heb “His strength was not known.”