With the heated words in the previous verse, the dialogue between Samson and his parents comes to an end. This verse is an aside from the narrator, offering an important explanation. The audience is informed that the LORD is, in fact, putting a plan in place to punish the Philistines. If possible, translators should try to show this is background material by using an appropriate expression. Here Hebrew begins with the waw conjunction, which may be rendered “Now” ( NET Bible), “For,” or even “But” (King James Version). Like Revised Standard Version, many other versions leave this conjunction untranslated. New International Version places the entire verse in parentheses to show it is background information, but this punctuation may raise problems for readers and probably should be avoided.
His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD: His father and mother may be rendered “His parents” (Good News Translation) if necessary (see verse 14.2). Contemporary English Version omits this phrase, but it should be kept. Did not know that it was from the LORD is a literal rendering of the Hebrew text. Samson’s parents did not realize that God was controlling the situation. Know here means “realize” (New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “understand.” That renders the Hebrew particle ki, which introduces the content of what Samson’s parents did not realize. The pronoun it refers to the whole situation or series of events, specifically Samson’s wish to marry a Philistine girl. From the LORD is an indirect way of saying that it was Yahweh who was putting this situation in place. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders it was from the LORD as “this was the LORD’s doing,” and New American Bible says “this had been brought about by the LORD.” Good News Translation has “it was the LORD who was leading Samson to do this,” but this rendering may be too specific. Revised English Bible provides a good model, saying “Neither his father nor his mother knew that the LORD was at work in this.”
For he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines is literally “for an opportunity he was seeking from the Philistines.” The conjunction for (ki in Hebrew) introduces the reason that the LORD was putting the events concerning Samson in place or emphasizes this fact. We might render it “Indeed” or use a particle marking this significant fact. The LORD was allowing this situation to occur in order to create an incident that would lead to the defeat of the Philistines, Israel’s enemies. The pronoun he refers to Yahweh. Translators should look for a natural way to express this important idea, for example, “He was seeking a pretext against the Philistines” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines” (New Revised Standard Version), “the LORD was looking for a chance to fight the Philistines” (Good News Translation), or “the LORD was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines.” However, it should be clear that it is not the LORD himself who will do the fighting. New Jerusalem Bible says “who was seeking grounds for a quarrel with the Philistines,” but this rendering might mistakenly be understood as implying the LORD needed justification for his acts. We might say “because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble for the Philistines.”
At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel: This sentence gives more background on the situation. The LORD sought the downfall of the Philistines to liberate the Israelites from their domination. This sentence begins with the waw conjunction in Hebrew, which is omitted in Revised Standard Version and many other versions. New Jerusalem Bible renders it “since,” which is a good possibility. At that time refers to the forty-year period during which the Philistines oppressed the Israelites (see verse 13.1). This phrase refers precisely to the time when Samson was a young man. It may be rendered “during that time” or “during that period.” Some versions place this phrase at the end of the sentence rather than at the beginning (New Living Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). For the Hebrew verb rendered had dominion, see verse 8.22 and verse 9.2, where it is translated “rule.” Here it is a participle in Hebrew, so it may be translated “were ruling” (Good News Translation) or “were governing.” verse 13.1 explains that this dominion came as the result of Israel’s sin against the LORD. It was not until the time of David that the Israelites eliminated the Philistine threat. Over Israel is literally “in Israel.” Here Israel could refer to the territory of Israel or its people. Contemporary English Version gives a good model: “At that time, the Philistines were in control of Israel.”
A translation model for this verse is:
• Now Samson’s parents did not know that Yahweh was behind all this and that he was looking for an opportunity to act against the Philistines. For during that time the Philistines had control over the Israelites.
Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .