The “one-two” wordplay continues here as Samson grasps two pillars, one with his right hand and the other with his left.

And Samson grasped the two middle pillars upon which the house rested: And, which renders the Hebrew waw conjunction, may be translated “Then” (New International Version) or “So” (Good News Translation). Some versions omit this connector (Contemporary English Version), but translators should use a transition that fits this high point in the narrative. The Hebrew verb rendered grasped usually includes the idea of turning and twisting something. Indeed, there are two possible interpretations of this verb here, one being that Samson “embraced” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) the two pillars to pull them inward and bring them down. Revised English Bible follows this interpretation with “put his arms round.” The other possibility is that Samson “put his hands on” (New Living Translation) both the columns to push them outward and thus bring them down. The translation of grasped will depend on which view is taken. A more neutral rendering would be “took hold of” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) or “grabbed.”

Clearly there were more than two pillars holding up the roof of Dagon’s temple, but Samson grabs the two middle pillars upon which the house rested. See verse 16.26. Obviously the two middle pillars are the crucial ones. New International Version calls them “the two central pillars,” and Good News Translation, “the two middle columns.”

And he leaned his weight upon them: This rendering seems to confirm the idea that probably Samson pushed out rather in. Samson pushed against the two central pillars to bring down the temple. See the discussion on verse 16.26. However, the Hebrew verb rendered leaned his weight is different from the one translated “lean” there. It may be expressed as “braced himself” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) or “pushed” (similarly New Living Translation).

His right hand on the one and his left hand on the other is literally “one in/by his right and one in/by his left.” Somewhat surprisingly, the word for hand does not occur in Hebrew at this high point, but usually the Hebrew words for right and left are understood to refer to the right and left hands. Sometimes these words are used to refer to directions, as in a move “to/toward the right and to/toward the left,” but that does not seem the meaning here. Right and left are important notions in this book (see verse 3.15), and in the Old Testament they often express the notion of totality. While this may be the case here, with Samson going all out to destroy Israel’s enemies, from a practical point of view, it is clear that Samson has figured out the best way to knock out the support of the large roof and kill the largest number of Philistines he possibly can.

Translation models for this verse are:

• Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars supporting the temple and pushed toward his right and toward his left.

• Samson put his hands on the two middle columns supporting the roof of the building. Then with his right hand, he pushed one side, and with his left, the other.

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 .