Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, April 9th, 2026
Thursday in Easter Week
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

English Standard Version

Judges 14:11

As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bridegroom;   Samson;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bridegroom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Marriage;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Marriage;   Miracle;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Timnath;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Marriage;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Insects;   Judges, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Levi;   Marriage;   Philistines;   Samson;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Marriage;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Reign of the Judges;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Lion;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Marriage;   Song of Songs, the;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty men to accompany him.
Hebrew Names Version
It happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
King James Version
And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Lexham English Bible
When they saw him, they took thirty companions, and they were with him.
New Century Version
When the people saw him, they sent thirty friends to be with him.
New English Translation
When the Philistines saw he had no attendants, they gave him thirty groomsmen who kept him company.
Amplified Bible
When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions (wedding attendants) to be with him.
New American Standard Bible
When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And when they sawe him, they brought thirtie companions to be with him.
Legacy Standard Bible
En toe hulle hom sien, neem hulle dertig vriende om by hom te wees.
Contemporary English Version
When the Philistines saw what Samson was like, they told thirty of their young men to stay with him at the party.
Complete Jewish Bible
When the P'lishtim saw him, they provided thirty companions to be with him.
Darby Translation
And it came to pass when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions, and they were with him.
Easy-to-Read Version
When the Philistines saw that he was having a party, they sent 30 men to be with him.
George Lamsa Translation
And when they saw him, there came thirty men and became his groomsmen.
Good News Translation
When the Philistines saw him, they sent thirty young men to stay with him.
Literal Translation
And it happened when they saw him, they took thirty companions, and they were with him.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And whan they sawe him, they gaue him thirtie companyons to be with him.
American Standard Version
And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Bible in Basic English
And he took thirty friends, and they were with him.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And whe they sawe him, they brought thirtie companions to be with him.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
King James Version (1611)
And it came to passe when they saw him, that they brought thirtie companions to be with him.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And it came to pass when they saw him, that they took thirty guests, and they were with him.
English Revised Version
And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Berean Standard Bible
And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor whanne the citeseyns of that place hadden seyn hym, thei yauen to hym thretti felowis, whiche schulen be with hym.
Young's Literal Translation
and it cometh to pass when they see him, that they take thirty companions, and they are with him.
Update Bible Version
And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Webster's Bible Translation
And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
World English Bible
It happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
New King James Version
And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
New Living Translation
When the bride's parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions.
New Life Bible
When the people saw him, they brought thirty friends to be with him.
New Revised Standard
When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And it came to pass, because they feared him, that they took thirty companions, who remained with him.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when the citizens of that place saw him, they brought him thirty companions to be with him.
Revised Standard Version
And when the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Contextual Overview

10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said to them, "Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, 13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes." And they said to him, "Put your riddle, that we may hear it." 14 And he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet." And in three days they could not solve the riddle. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?" 16 And Samson's wife wept over him and said, "You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?" 17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. 18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." 19 And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

saw him: 1 Samuel 10:23, 1 Samuel 16:6

thirty: Matthew 9:15, John 3:29

Reciprocal: Job 41:6 - General Song of Solomon 8:13 - the companions Mark 2:19 - Can Luke 5:34 - the children

Cross-References

Genesis 12:5
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
Genesis 14:16
Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.
Genesis 14:21
And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself."
Deuteronomy 28:31
Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you.
Deuteronomy 28:35
The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
Deuteronomy 28:51
It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it came to pass; when they saw him,.... That is, the Philistines, the citizens of Timnath, when they saw that he was come to consummate his marriage:

that they brought thirty companions to be with him; to be the bridegroom's men, or children of the bridechamber, as they are called, Matthew 9:15 or friends of the bridegroom, John 3:29 to keep him company during the nuptial feast: this they did according to custom, and in honour and respect unto him; though some think, and so Josephus l, that they were brought to be guards upon him, observing that he was a man of great might, strength, and courage, so that they were afraid of him, lest he should have some design upon them; but it is not certain that there was anything very visible or terrible in him, more than in another man, that showed him to be of extraordinary courage and strength, since it was but at times the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and as yet he had done nothing to their knowledge which showed him to be such; had they indeed known of his encounter with the lion, they might have had such thoughts of him, but this they knew nothing of.

l Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 6.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thirty companions - These were “the children of the bride-chamber” (Matthew 9:15; see Judges 14:20). From the number of them it may be inferred that Samson’s family was of some wealth and importance.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 14:11. They brought thirty companions — These are called in Scripture children of the bride-chamber, and friends of the bridegroom. See the whole of this subject particularly illustrated in the observations at the end, Clarke "John 3:25".


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile