Judges 14:6
And the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion as he would have torn a kid in pieces, having nothing at all in his hand: and he would not tell this to his father and mother.
Open Judges 14:6 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Irruit autem spiritus Domini in Samson, et dilaceravit leonem, quasi hædum in frustra discerpens, nihil omnino habens in manu : et hoc patri et matri noluit indicare.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἥλατο ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν πνεῦμα Κυρίου, καὶ συνέτριψεν αὐτὸν ὡσεὶ συντρίψει ἔριφον· καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ. καὶ οὐκ ἀπήγγειλεν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ ὃ ἐποίησεν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַתִּצְלַ֨ח עָלָ֜יו ר֣וּחַ יְהוָ֗ה וַֽיְשַׁסְּעֵ֨הוּ֙ כְּשַׁסַּ֣ע הַגְּדִ֔י וּמְא֖וּמָה אֵ֣ין בְּיָד֑וֹ וְלֹ֤א הִגִּיד֙ לְאָבִ֣יו וּלְאִמּ֔וֹ אֵ֖ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָֽׂה
Haydock's commentary
Spirit, increasing his courage and strength. (Menochius)
This shews that the strength of Samson was miraculous, attached to the keeping of his hair, and the observance of the duties of the Nazarites. (Calmet) (Chap. xvi. 19.)
Mother. The modesty which he displays is more wonderful than the feat of valour. (Haydock)
Brave men are never boasters. (Menochius)
He kept what he had done secret, designing to propose a riddle. (Salien)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Irenaeus Fragments from the Lost Writings of, XL
“And he found the jaw-bone of an ass.” It is to be observed that, after [Samson had committed] fornication, the holy Scripture no longer speaks of the things happily accomplished by him in connection with the formula, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him.” For thus, according to the holy apostle, the sin of fornication is perpetrated against the body, as involving also sin against the temple of God.
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XXVI. How long standing an evil love of money is, is plain from many examples in the Old Testament. And yet it is plain, too, how idle a thing the possession of money is
131. Why? Did not the woman Delilah’s love of money deceive Samson, the bravest man of all? So he who had torn asunder the roaring lion with his hands; who, when bound and handed over to his enemies, alone, without help, burst his bonds and slew a thousand of them; who broke the cords interwoven with sinews as though they were but the slight threads of a net; he, I say, having laid his head on the woman’s knee, was robbed of the decoration of his victory-bringing hair, that which gave him his might. Money flowed into the lap of the woman, and the favour of God forsook the man.
St Ambrose On the Holy Spirit, Chapter I. The Spirit is the Lord and Power; and in this is not inferior to the Father and the Son
17. Above , you read that “the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to go with him.” Farther on it is said: “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.” Again he says: “If I be shaven, my strength will depart from me.” After he was shaven, see what the Scripture says: “The Lord,” he says, “departed from him.”
St Ephrem the Syrian Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh, Hymn III
With the weapon of the deceiver the First-born clad Himself, that with the weapon that killed, He might restore to life again! With the tree wherewith he slew us, He delivered us. With the wine which maddened us, with it we were made chaste! With the rib that was drawn out of Adam, the wicked one drew out the heart of Adam. There rose from the Rib a hidden power, which cut off Satan as Dagon: for in that Ark a book was hidden that cried and proclaimed concerning the Conqueror! There was then a mystery revealed, in that Dagon was brought low in his own place of refuge! The accomplishment came after the type, in that the wicked one was brought low in the place in which he trusted! Blessed be He Who came and in Him were accomplished the mysteries of the left hand, and the right hand. Fulfilled was the mystery that was in the Lamb, and fulfilled was the type that was in Dagon. …