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Judges 14:10

in Judges 14

Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

KJV

So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

This verse in Judges 14

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Made a feast ... - This was the wedding-feast, protracted in this instance seven days, in that of Tobias (Tobit 8:19) fourteen days. It was an essential part of the marriage ceremony Gen 29:22; Est 2:18; Mat 22:2-4; Rev 19:7, Rev 19:9.

This site's exposition

his father went to visit the woman

on Judges 14:10-11

Numbers 6:3 bars a Nazirite from wine and strong drink, and this verse puts him at a drinking feast without saying what he took. Albert Barnes takes the thirty companions as a mark of the family's standing, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown as a watch on a stranger.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

So his father went down unto the woman,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Though he was a Nazarite, he did not affect, in a thing of this nature, to be singular, but did as the young men used to do upon such occasions. It is no part of religion to go contrary to the innocent usages of the places where we live: nay, it is a reproach to religion when those who profess it give just occasion to others to call them covetous, sneaking, and morose.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Samson made there a feast - The marriage feast, when he went to marry his espoused wife.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

His father descended to discuss the woman. With regard to the woman.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 14:10:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Friends. Companions who formed the retinue of wedding attendants.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 14:11:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֵּ֥רֶדand he went down

    vaiyeredH3381 →381 times

  • אָבִ֖יהוּfather his

    ʾavihuH1 →1212 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הָאִשָּׁ֑הthe woman

    haishahH802 →781 times

  • וַיַּ֨עַשׂand he prepared

    vaiyaasH6213 →2628 times

  • שָׁ֤םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • שִׁמְשׁוֹן֙Samson

    shimshonH8123 →38 times

  • מִשְׁתֶּ֔הa feast

    mishtehH4960 →46 times

  • כִּ֛יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • כֵּ֥ןthus

    kenH3651 →771 times

  • יַעֲשׂ֖וּthey did

    yaasuH6213 →2628 times

  • הַבַּחוּרִֽים׃the young men

    habachurimH970 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    John 2:9

    and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he…

    it leads to

    • John 4:46

      So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.

    • John 7:17

      If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 10:19

    A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 104:15

      wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

    • Isaiah 23:18

      Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food…

    • 1 Peter 4:3

      For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

    • Isaiah 24:11

      In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.

    • Philippians 4:15–19

      And as you Philippians know, in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church but you partnered with me in the matter of giving and receiving.

  • Through

    Genesis 29:22

    So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 19:9

      Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Where this verse is studied

About Judges

Samson Slays a Lion — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Samson Slays a Lion — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.