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Bishop's Bible

Judges 15:8

And he smote them legge and thygh with a myghtie plague, and then he went & dwelt in the toppe of the rocke Etam.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Etam;   Revenge;   Samson;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Philistines, the;   Revenge;   Rocks;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Thigh;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Samson;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Timnah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Hip;   Rock;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Etam;   Israel;   Judges (1);   Levi;   Marriage;   Philistines;   Rock;   Samson;   Thigh;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Rock ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Etam, the Rock;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Etam;   Smith Bible Dictionary - E'tam, the Rock,;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Rock;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Etam;   Hip;   Samson;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Etam;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He tore them limb from limb and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
Hebrew Names Version
He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of `Etam.
King James Version
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
Lexham English Bible
And he gave them a thorough beating, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
English Standard Version
And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
New Century Version
Samson attacked the Philistines and killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
New English Translation
He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.
Amplified Bible
Then he struck them without mercy, a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
New American Standard Bible
So he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and afterward he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
Geneva Bible (1587)
So hee smote them hippe and thigh with a mightie plague: then hee went and dwelt in the top of the rocke Etam.
Legacy Standard Bible
En hy het hulle lendelam geslaan, 'n groot slag. En hy het afgegaan en gebly in die rotskloof van Etam.
Contemporary English Version
Then Samson started hacking them to pieces with his sword. Samson left Philistia and went to live in the cave at Etam Rock.
Complete Jewish Bible
Infuriated, he began killing them right and left; it was a massacre. Then he went down and stayed in the cave at the ‘Eitam Rock.
Darby Translation
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the cliff Etam.
Easy-to-Read Version
Samson attacked the Philistines and killed many of them. Then he went and stayed in a cave in a place named the Rock of Etam.
George Lamsa Translation
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and dwelt in a cave of the rock of Atmin.
Good News Translation
He attacked them fiercely and killed many of them. Then he went and stayed in the cave in the cliff at Etam.
Literal Translation
And he struck them hip on thigh, a great slaughter, and went down and lived in the cleft of the rock Etam.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he smote them sore both vpo the shulders & loynes: and wete downe, & dwelt in the stone clyffe at Eram.
American Standard Version
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
Bible in Basic English
And he made an attack on them, driving them in uncontrolled flight, and causing great destruction; then he went away to his safe place in the crack of the rock at Etam.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
King James Version (1611)
And he smote them hip and thigh, with a great slaughter; and hee went down and dwelt in the top of the rocke Etam.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he smote them leg on thigh with a great overthrow; and went down and dwelt in a cave of the rock Etam.
English Revised Version
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
Berean Standard Bible
And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he smoot hem with greet wounde, so that thei wondriden, and `puttiden the hyndrere part of the hipe on the thiy; and he yede doun, and dwellide in the denne of the stoon of Ethan.
Young's Literal Translation
And he smiteth them hip and thigh -- a great smiting, and goeth down and dwelleth in the cleft of the rock Etam.
Update Bible Version
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
Webster's Bible Translation
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
World English Bible
He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
New King James Version
So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; then he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
New Living Translation
So he attacked the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. Then he went to live in a cave in the rock of Etam.
New Life Bible
He killed many of them without mercy. Then Samson went down and lived in the opening of the rock of Etam.
New Revised Standard
He struck them down hip and thigh with great slaughter; and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So he smote them, leg on thigh, with a great smiting, - and went down and dwelt in a cleft of the crag Etam.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he made a great slaughter of them, so that in astonishment they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And going down he dwelt in a cavern of the rock Etam.
Revised Standard Version
And he smote them hip and thigh with great slaughter; and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
THE MESSAGE
With that he tore into them, ripping them limb from limb—a huge slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave at Etam Rock.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

Contextual Overview

1 But within a while after, euen in the time of wheat haruest, Sason visited his wife with a kyd, saying: I wil go in to my wyfe into the chaumber. But her father woulde not suffer him to go in. 2 And her father sayde, I thought that thou haddest hated her, & therfore gaue I her to thy companion: Is not her younger sister fayrer then she? Take her I pray thee, in steade of the other. 3 Samson sayde vnto hym: Nowe am I more blamelesse then the Philistines, and therfore will I do them displeasure. 4 And Samson went out, and caught three hundred foxes, & toke firebrandes, and turned them tayle to tayle, and put a firebrand in the middes betweene two tayles. 5 And when he had set the brandes on fire, he sent them out into the standyng corne of the Philistines, & burnt vp both the reaped corne, and also the standing, with the vineyardes and oliues. 6 Then the Philistines sayd: Who hath done this? And they aunswered: Samson the sonne in lawe of the Thamnite, because he had taken his wife, & geuen her to his companion. And the Philistines came vp, and burnt her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said vnto them: Though ye haue done this, yet will I be auenged of you, and then I will ceasse. 8 And he smote them legge and thygh with a myghtie plague, and then he went & dwelt in the toppe of the rocke Etam.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 25:10, Isaiah 63:3, Isaiah 63:6

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 33:22 - General Judges 14:6 - rent him Judges 16:24 - which slew many of us Judges 16:30 - So the dead 1 Samuel 23:25 - into a rock 2 Chronicles 11:6 - Etam Job 16:14 - runneth Psalms 108:13 - tread

Cross-References

Genesis 15:2
And Abram sayde: Lorde God what wylt thou geue me when I go chyldelesse, the chylde of the stewardship of my house is this Eleazer of Damasco?
Genesis 15:4
And beholde, the worde of the Lorde came vnto hym, saying, he shall not be thine heire: but one that shall come out of thine own bowels shalbe thine heire.
Genesis 15:9
He aunswered vnto hym: Take an Heyfer of three yere olde, & a she Goate of three yere olde, and a three yere olde Ramme, a turtle Doue also, & a young Pigeon.
Genesis 15:10
He toke therefore all these vnto hym, and deuided them in the middes, and layde euery peece one ouer agaynst another: but the birdes deuided he not.
Genesis 15:13
And he sayde vnto Abram: Knowe this of a suertie, that thy seede shalbe a straunger in a lande that is not theirs, and shall serue them, and they shall entreate them euyll foure hundreth yeres.
Genesis 15:14
But the nation whom they shall serue wyll I iudge: and afterward shall they come out with great substaunce.
Genesis 15:17
And so it was, that when the sonne went downe, and it was twylyght, beholde a smokyng furnesse and a fire brande goyng betweene the said peeces.
2 Kings 20:8
And Hezekia sayde vnto Isai: What shalbe the signe that the Lorde will heale me, and that I shal go vp into the house of the Lorde the thirde day?
Psalms 86:17
Shewe some good token of thy fauour towardes me, that they whiche hate me may see it and be ashamed: because thou God hast helped me, and comforted me.
Isaiah 7:11
Require to thy selfe a token of the Lorde thy God, whether it be towarde the depth beneath, or toward the height aboue.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter,.... Either smote them on their hips and thighs with his hands (for it does not appear he had any weapon of war), so that they were sadly bruised, and maimed, and lamed, that they could not stir, and of which blows and bruises multitudes died: or he smote them with his legs on their thighs, kicked them about at pleasure, which kicks numbers of them never got over; or the meaning of the proverbial expression is, he laid on them at a great rate, and smote them here and there, and any where, which issued in the death of many of them: the Targum is,

"he smote them horse and foot,''

their cavalry and infantry, destroyed them both; but it does not appear that they came out in an hostile manner unto him, and much less in the form of a regular army:

and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. Josephus says e, that Samson having slain many in the fields of the Philistines, went and dwelt at Etam, a strong rock in the tribe of Judah; and which agrees with 2 Chronicles 11:6, where mention is made of the city Etam, along with Bethlehem and Tekoah, cities in that tribe, which had its name either from this rock, or the rock from that. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read,

"in a cave of the rock of Etam;''

and the Syriac and Arabic versions, in Sahaph, which is on the rock of Etam, as if Sahaph was the name of a city there; hither Samson went, not through fear, or for safety, but to wait for another opportunity of further avenging the injuries of Israel on the Philistines.

e Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 8.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hip and thigh - A proverbial expression of doubtful origin, meaning all the “great” and “mighty,” all the choice pieces like the thigh and shoulder.

In the top of the rock - Rather, “the cleft of the rock.” These clefts of the rock were the natural fortresses and hiding places of the land. (Isaiah 2:21; Isaiah 57:5. Compare 1 Samuel 13:6; 1 Kings 18:13.)

Etam - Not the same as the place in the territory of Simeon 1 Chronicles 4:32. Its situation is uncertain, but a site near Eleutheropolis (“Beth-jibrin”) is required; and there exist some extraordinary caverns in the soft limestone or chalky rock, fifteen or twenty feet deep, with perpendicular sides, opening into extensive excavations in the rock, about two hours from Eleutheropolis. (Conder conjectures it to be the same as Atab, a village 12 miles southwest of Jerusalem, in the ‛arkub or Ridge.)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 15:8. He smote them hip and thigh — This also is variously understood; but the general meaning seems plain; he appears to have had no kind of defensive weapon, therefore he was obliged to grapple with them, and, according to the custom of wrestlers, trip up their feet, and then bruise them to death. Some translate heaps upon heaps; others, he smote horsemen and footmen; others, he wounded them from their legs to their thighs, c., c. See the different versions. Some think in their running away from him he kicked them down, and then trod them to death: thus his leg or thigh was against their hip hence the expression.

The top of the rock Etam. — It is very likely that this is the same place as that mentioned 1 Chronicles 4:32; it was in the tribe of Simeon, and on the borders of Dan, and probably a fortified place.


 
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