Judges 15:15
New International Version
Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

New Living Translation
Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it.

English Standard Version
And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.

Berean Standard Bible
He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.

King James Bible
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

New King James Version
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.

New American Standard Bible
Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out with his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.

NASB 1995
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it.

NASB 1977
And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it.

Legacy Standard Bible
And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he sent forth his hand and took it and struck down 1,000 men with it.

Amplified Bible
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out his hand and took it and killed a thousand men with it.

Christian Standard Bible
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed a thousand men with it.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed 1,000 men with it.

American Standard Version
And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he found the hard jawbone of a donkey, and he reached his hand and he took it and he killed one thousand men with it

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he found the jaw-bone of an ass that had been cast away, and he put forth his hand and took it, and smote with it a thousand men.

Contemporary English Version
Samson glanced around and spotted the jawbone of a donkey. The jawbone had not yet dried out, so it was still hard and heavy. Samson grabbed it and started hitting Philistines--he killed 1,000 of them!

Douay-Rheims Bible
And finding a jawbone, even the jawbone of an ass which lay there, catching it up, be slew therewith a thousand men.

English Revised Version
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Samson found the jawbone from a donkey that had just died. He picked it up and killed 1,000 men with it.

Good News Translation
Then he found a jawbone of a donkey that had recently died. He reached down and picked it up, and killed a thousand men with it.

International Standard Version
He happened upon a jawbone from a putrefying donkey, reached out to grab it, and killed 1,000 men with it.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith.

Literal Standard Version
and he finds a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and puts forth his hand and takes it, and strikes down one thousand men with it.

Majority Standard Bible
He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.

New American Bible
Coming upon the fresh jawbone of an ass, he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men.

NET Bible
He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

New Revised Standard Version
Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached down and took it, and with it he killed a thousand men.

New Heart English Bible
And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and reached down and took it, and struck a thousand men with it.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he found a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men with it.

World English Bible
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.

Young's Literal Translation
and he findeth a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, and putteth forth his hand and taketh it, and smiteth with it -- a thousand men.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Samson's Revenge
14When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands. 15He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men. 16Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”…

Cross References
Hebrews 11:34
quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

Leviticus 26:8
Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

Joshua 23:10
One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised.

Judges 15:16
Then Samson said: "With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men."

Judges 15:17
And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.


Treasury of Scripture

And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

new jaw-bone.

Judges 3:31
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

Judges 4:21
Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

Judges 7:16
And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.

a thousand.

Jump to Previous
Ass Chance Dead Donkey Earth Hand Jawbone Jaw-Bone Killed Mouth-Bone New Newly Putteth Reached Seized Slew Smiteth Smote Struck Therewith Thousand
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Ass Chance Dead Donkey Earth Hand Jawbone Jaw-Bone Killed Mouth-Bone New Newly Putteth Reached Seized Slew Smiteth Smote Struck Therewith Thousand
Judges 15
1. Samson is denied his wife
3. He burns the Philistines' corn with foxes and firebrands
6. His wife and her father are burnt by the Philistines
8. Samson smites them hip and thigh
9. He is bound by the men of Judah, and delivered to the Philistines
14. He kills them with a jawbone
18. God makes the fountain En-hakkore for him in Lehi














(15) A new jawbone.--Literally, a moist jawbone--i.e., the jawbone of an animal recently dead, and before the bone had become brittle. In this instance, at any rate, Samson might feel himself absolved from the rule of ceremonial cleanness, which forbad him as a Nazarite to touch carcases. A jawbone is a mighty magic weapon in one of the Polynesian legends (Grey, Polyn. Mythology, p. 35), but that throws no light on this narrative.

Slew a thousand men.--The verb is rather smote than "slew," and the expression (whether due to poetry or not) is to be taken generally, like "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." If Goliath was able single-handed to strike terror into the whole army of Israel, Samson with his long locks and colossal strength would be still more likely to strike a terror into the Philistines, and all the more because a supernatural awe was doubtless attached by this time to his name and person. The very fact that, though armed only with this wretched weapon of offence, he yet dared to rush upon the Philistines would make them fly in wilder panic (Joshua 23:10). "One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the Lord your God He it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you." (Comp. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 32:30.) So we read that one of David's heroes slew three hundred men (1Chronicles 11:11; comp. 2Samuel 23:8). The Philistines, dull and superstitious, seem to have been peculiarly liable to these panics (1Samuel 14:4-18). Bishop Patrick quotes a striking parallel from a song on the Emperor Aurelian. . . .

Verse 15. - A most vivid and stirring description! The Spirit of the Lord (Judges 14:19), with that suddenness which marks his extraordinary movements (1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16; Acts 2:2; Acts 8:39, etc.), came upon Samson, and mightily strengthened him in his outer man. The strong new cords snapped asunder in an instant, and before the Philistines could recover from their terror at seeing their great enemy free, he had snatched up the heavy jawbone of an ass recently dead, and with it smote the flying Philistines till a thousand of them had fallen under his blows.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
He found
וַיִּמְצָ֥א (way·yim·ṣā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

the fresh
טְרִיָּ֑ה (ṭə·rî·yāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 2961: Dripping, fresh

jawbone
לְחִֽי־ (lə·ḥî-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3895: The cheek, the jaw-bone

of a donkey,
חֲמ֖וֹר (ḥă·mō·wr)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2543: A male ass

reached out
וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח (way·yiš·laḥ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

his hand
יָדוֹ֙ (yā·ḏōw)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3027: A hand

and took it,
וַיִּקָּחֶ֔הָ (way·yiq·qā·ḥe·hā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

and struck down
וַיַּךְ־ (way·yaḵ-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5221: To strike

a thousand
אֶ֥לֶף (’e·lep̄)
Number - masculine singular construct
Strong's 505: A thousand

men.
אִֽישׁ׃ (’îš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person


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OT History: Judges 15:15 He found a fresh jawbone (Jd Judg. Jdg)
Judges 15:14
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