1. Judges 14:15 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is significant about the reference to the “fourth day”?

Judges 14:15 (ESV)

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?”

This reading of “fourth day” is found in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the Syriac Peshitta. The Hebrew text has “seventh day.” In Hebrew there is a difference of only one letter between the words “fourth” (רְבִיעִי) and “seventh” (שְׁבִיעִי). The reading of “fourth” harmonizes better with the preceding verse (“in three days”) and with Judges 14:17, which implies that Samson’s bride had been. Another option is to change שְׁלֹשֶׁת (“three”) at the end of Judges 14:14 to שֵׁשֶׁת (“six”), but the resulting scenario does not account as well for Judges 14:17, which implies the bride had been pressing him for more than one day.