19:22 They were having a good time, 8 when suddenly 9 some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, 10 surrounded the house and kept beating 11 on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” 12
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 “they were making their heart good.”
9 tn Heb “and look.”
10 tn Heb “the men of the city, men, the sons of wickedness.” The phrases are in apposition; the last phrase specifies what type of men they were. It is not certain if all the men of the city are in view, or just a group of troublemakers. In 20:5 the town leaders are implicated in the crime, suggesting that all the men of the city were involved. If so, the implication is that the entire male population of the town were good-for-nothings.
11 tn The Hitpael verb form appears to have an iterative force here, indicating repeated action.
12 tn Heb “so we can know him.” On the surface one might think they simply wanted to meet the visitor and get to know him, but their hostile actions betray their double-talk. The old man, who has been living with them long enough to know what they are like, seems to have no doubts about the meaning of their words (see v. 23).