Judges 15:16
And he said: With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of asses I have destroyed them, and have slain a thousand men.
Open Judges 15:16 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et ait : In maxilla asini, in mandibula pulli asinarum, delevi eos, et percussi mille viros.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν Σαμψών Ἐν σιαγόνι ὄνου ἐξαλείφων ἐξήλειψα αὐτούς, ὅτι ἐν τῇ σιαγόνι τοῦ ὄνου ἐπάταξα χιλίους ἄνδρας.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שִׁמְשׁ֔וֹן בִּלְחִ֣י הַחֲמ֔וֹר חֲמ֖וֹר חֲמֹרָתָ֑יִם בִּלְחִ֣י הַחֲמ֔וֹר הִכֵּ֖יתִי אֶ֥לֶף אִֽישׁ
Haydock's commentary
Asses. He insists on this particular, as such an unusual weapon rendering his victory more astonishing, and he would not leave any room for doubt. Hebrew is variously translated, "with the jaw-bone of an ass, I have made a heap, yea two heaps; with the jaw-bone of an ass, I have defeated a thousand men." (Syriac, &c.) Castalion and Bonfrere defend the Vulgate. The Septuagint have, "with the jaw-bone of an ass I have entirely taken them off, (Haydock; defending them) with," &c. They have explained chamorathayim, as the first person of émor, rubefecit, or Chaldean destruxit, "I have covered them with blood;" and indeed to understand it of "two she asses," is impossible. (Calmet)
This verse formed the chorus of Samson's song. (Haydock)
He did not take the glory to himself, as Josephus ([Antiquities?] v. 10,) would insinuate, but attributed the victory to God, ver. 18. (Salien, in the year before Christ 1172.) This miracle of strength can no more be accounted for by reason, than many others. (Worthington)
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
Theodoret Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, To Bishop Irenæus
There is nothing good, it seems, in prospect for us, so, far from calming down, the tempest troubling the Church seems to rise higher every day. The conveners of the Council have arrived and delivered the letters of summons to several of the Metropolitans including our own, and I have sent a copy of the letter to your Holiness to acquaint you how, as the poet has it, “Woe has been welded by woe.” And we need only the Lord’s goodness to stay the storm. Easy it is for Him to stay it, but we are unworthy of the calm, yet the grace of His patience is enough for us, so that haply by it we may get the better of our foes. …