This verse introduces some poetic lines that were probably set to music. As with verse 5.1-31, victory songs were often composed following a great defeat. This is Samson’s song of triumph. Like the Song of Deborah, these lines are probably much older than the written narrative found here. The word jawbone occurs twice, as well as other repetitive phrases. Translators should place these lines in poetic format.

And Samson said: And renders well the Hebrew waw conjunction here, but another possible connector is “Then” (New International Version, New American Bible). The mention of Samson by name shows that this literary unit is coming to a close. The general verb said may be rendered “sang” (Good News Translation) since a song follows.

Following the rendering of Revised Standard Version, the special poetic pattern of the song here becomes clear. It reads literally:

With the jawbone of the donkey,
one heap, two heaps;
with the jawbone of the donkey,
I struck a thousand man.

The first line is repeated in the third line. The second line is explained in the last line. When rendering this song, translators may make use of any stylistic devices in their language to show that this is poetry, for example, rhythm, rhyme, and reversals in word order. They may also want to capitalize each line.

With the jawbone of an ass: This first line gives the main theme of Samson’s song. As with other heroes in Israel (for example, Ehud and Jael), his weapon was small and held in his hand. It is not just the fact that he killed 1,000 men that is astounding. It is also how he did it. For the jawbone of an ass, see verse 15.15.

Heaps upon heaps: The Hebrew word for heaps refers to a pile of objects. This same word occurs in Exo 8.14, when following the second plague, there were heaps of dead frogs everywhere. Here there are heaps upon heaps of dead Philistines. This line expresses the great number of people Samson killed—1,000 men in all. In Hebrew this line consists of two words, which are chamor chamoratayim (literally “one heap, two heaps”). However, Good News Translation follows the Septuagint by saying “I piled them up in piles.” New International Version proposes “I have made donkeys of them,” noting in a footnote that the words for “heap” and “donkey” are very similar in Hebrew. By repointing the Hebrew text, another possible meaning emerges: “thrashing I thrashed them,” a reading that Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives a {C} rating. This reading fits the context of boasting that is part of this song, so can clearly serve as a reliable text here. Translators will have to make their choice, but can put the alternative readings in a footnote. If Revised Standard Version is followed here, it can be noted there may be a wordplay, since the Hebrew word for ass has the same root letters as the word for heaps (ch-m-r). Indeed, whichever reading is followed, these sounds occur repeatedly throughout the first three lines.

With the jawbone of an ass is repeated in the third line. Most languages enjoy repetition in songs, but in some languages the two lines may occur one after the other, with the rest of the material following, or one line at the beginning and the repetition at the end. If such repetition is not appreciated, this redundant line may be removed, but it is strongly recommended to respect the text if it all possible.

Have I slain a thousand men: Here Revised Standard Version reverses the normal order of the auxiliary verb and the subject in English to convey a poetic style. Slain renders the same Hebrew verb translated “slew” in the previous verse (see comments there). In some languages a thousand men will be a long and non-poetic sounding expression. If so, an ideophone or idiomatic expression may be used, for example, “I killed many, many, many men” or “I killed many men, you cannot count them!”

Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version change the order of the lines in this poem for naturalness in English. Contemporary English Version says:

I used a donkey’s jawbone
to kill a thousand men.
I beat them with this jawbone
over and over again.

This version, however, does not render in a clear way the second line of the poem. Possible models for the whole verse are:

• Then Samson said:
“With a donkey’s jawbone, I thrashed them thoroughly;*
with a donkey’s jawbone, I killed a thousand men.”
* Some think the Hebrew here says “heaps upon heaps [of dead bodies].”

• Samson sang:
“A simple donkey’s jawbone,
dead bodies everywhere!
A simple donkey’s jawbone,
and I slaughtered 1,000 men!”

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 .