Following the terrible incident in the previous verse, the Philistines do not relent. They provoke Samson again by giving his wife to his best man. In this final verse of the subsection the narrator gives background information that the main character Samson is not yet aware of.

And Samson’s wife was given to his companion … is literally “And she was the wife of Samson to his friend…,” which means Samson’s wife became the wife of another man. No details are given about this. It is likely that her father or her community thought that Samson would never return after he went back home (verse 14.19). No mention of her father is made in Hebrew, but Contemporary English Version begins this verse with “The father of the bride had Samson’s wife marry….” This rendering respects the culture of that period, but says more than the text. It would be more correct to say “Samson’s wife was given in marriage…” (Revised English Bible; similarly Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version). We may also say “They [impersonal] gave Samson’s wife…” or “Samson’s wife became the wife of….” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says simply “Samson’s wife then married….” This rendering leaves open the possibility that the wife herself or the best man was involved in this arrangement, an idea that is not present in the text, and that would not follow cultural norms of that time. The Hebrew waw conjunction at the beginning of this verse could indicate a temporal sequence, so it may be rendered And or “Then.” But a connector such as “Meanwhile” or “In the meantime” might be a good transition here.

His companion, who had been his best man is literally “his friend who had befriended him.” There is a wordplay here in Hebrew, since the words for “friend” and “befriended” come from the same root. It is impossible to know for sure if this is a sarcastic remark, meaning that this man was no friend, or whether this is meant to be a comment on a heartbreaking situation. If the latter is meant, one of Samson’s thirty Philistine companions had become his best friend. For companion see verse 14.11. Best man is really a Western expression referring to the man who is the closest friend of the bridegroom and witness to the ceremony. Here it would be more correct to say “best friend.” This rendering would preserve the shock and communicate the impact of this final insult.

This verse can be considered as an end to this episode, either appearing on its own (so Contemporary English Version) or attached to the previous verse (so Good News Translation, New International Version). A translation model for it is:

• Samson’s wife then married his best friend!

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 .