The name that is transliterated as “Samson” in English means “a little sun,” “splendid sun” (i.e., great joy and felicity), “like the sun,” “distinguished,” “strong,” “a perfect servant.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
It is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the signs for “headband” referring to his long hair and likely use of a headband. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Philistines.
The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 15:10:
Kupsabiny: “The people of Judah asked the Philistines, ‘Why have you come to fight us?’ Those people said, ‘We have come to arrest Samson and do to him what he did to us.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The men living in Judea asked — "Why have you come to fight with us?" They replied — "We have come to catch Samson. We will also do to him like he has done to us."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Therefore those from-Juda asked them, ‘Why are- you (plur.) -attacking us (excl.)?’ They replied, ‘So-that we (excl.) will-capture Samson and take-revenge-on/pay-back-for what he did to us (excl.).’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The men there asked the Philistines, ‘Why have you attacked us?’ The Philistines replied, ‘We have come to capture Samson. We have come to get revenge on him for what he did to us.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
And the men of Judah said: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may also be translated “Then” or left untranslated (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). The men of Judah is literally “a man of Judah.” However, this singular expression has a plural sense here, referring to “The people Judah” (Contemporary English Version). They see Philistine soldiers camped near their town of Lehi, and do not understand why they are being attacked. In this context the general verb said may be rendered “asked” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).
Why have you come up against us?: This seems to be a real question, rather than a rhetorical one, especially since the Philistines answer it. The narrator does not say here whether or not the people of Judah know that Samson is in their territory. Here the Hebrew verb for come up (ʿalah) clearly means “attack” or “fight” (see verse 1.1). Contemporary English Version says “Why have you invaded our land?” but Good News Translation is closer to the original text: “Why are you attacking us?”
They said: Revised Standard Version omits the Hebrew waw conjunction at the beginning of this clause, but it may be rendered “And” (English Standard Version) or “Then.” The pronoun They refers to the Philistine soldiers. We might say “And they replied [or, answered].”
We have come up to bind Samson: The Philistines answer the question of the people of Judah, using the same key verb come up, which here might be rendered as a verb of movement. They are very direct and clear about what their objectives are. Their first goal is to bind Samson. Bind means to tie a person tightly so he cannot move or escape. Good News Translation, New International Version, and Revised English Bible say “to take Samson prisoner.” Contemporary English Version is more general with “to get Samson.” However, the verb bind (ʾasar in Hebrew) occurs throughout this unit and in the next chapter (verse 15.12-13; verse 16.5-8, 10-13, 21), and should be kept here. We might say “We have come to capture Samson and tie him up.”
To do to him as he did to us: This clause explains why the Philistines want to capture Samson: to get revenge for what he did to them. This “eye for an eye” mentality was typical of that period. One harmful action would be punished by an equally harmful one. In the case of Samson, this led to an unending cycle of violence and revenge. Do and did render the same general Hebrew verb that occurred in verse 15.7, where Samson expressed his desire for revenge. Here it means “do harm.” We might say “We want to do to him what he has done to us” or “What Samson has done to us, we want to do to him.”
Translation models for this verse are:
• When the people of Judah asked the Philistines why they were attacking them, they were told, “We are after Samson. We want to pay him back for what he has done to us.”
• So the people of Judah asked the Philistines, “Why have you come to attack us?”
And the Philistines responded, “We want to tie up Samson and take him as our prisoner. The bad things he did to us, we want to do to him.”
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 .
15:10a “Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah.
The men of Judah asked ⌊them⌋ , “Why are you going/preparing to attack us?”
-or-
The men of Judah asked ⌊them⌋ why they had come to attack them.
15:10b The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson
The Philistines answered, “We are here to capture Samson.
-or-
They replied, “We have come to take Samson and tie him up ⌊with ropes⌋ .
15:10c and pay him back for what he has done to us.”
Then we will do to him the same things he did to us.”
-or-
We will do the same things to him that he did to us.”
-or-
We will take revenge for what he did to us.”
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