Judices 15:8

Nova Vulgata

Percussitque eos ingenti plaga, suram ad femur. Et descendens habitavit in spelunca petrae Etam.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
Ascenditque per convallem filii Ennom ex latere Jebus�i ad meridiem, h�c est Jerusalem : et inde se erigens ad verticem montis, qui est contra Geennom ad occidentem in summitate vallis Raphaim contra aquilonem :

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Percussitque eos ingenti plaga, ita ut stupentes suram femori imponerent. Et descendens habitavit in spelunca petr� 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

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.