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 .