Judges 15:17

17 When he finished speaking, he tossed away the jawbone. So that place became known as Ramath-lehi.

Judges 15:17 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:17

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking
Of delivering out the above song, which very probably consisted of much more than what is here expressed:

that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand;
which he held in his hand had wrought by him through the means of it, and so served to animate him to praise and thankfulness; but having no further use for it, he threw it away:

and called the place Ramathlehi;
that is, the casting away the jawbone, so Kimchi; but Ben Gersom thinks it was an high place where it was thrown, and so signifies the elevation or lifting up of the "jawbone", as the Septuagint version renders it.

Judges 15:17 In-Context

15 He found a donkey's fresh jawbone, picked it up, and used it to attack one thousand men.

16 Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone, stacks on stacks! With a donkey's jawbone, I've killed one thousand men."

17 When he finished speaking, he tossed away the jawbone. So that place became known as Ramath-lehi.

18 Now Samson was very thirsty, so he called out to the LORD, "You are the one who allowed this great victory to be accomplished by your servant's hands. Am I now going to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"

19 So God split open the hollow rock in Lehi, and water flowed out of it. When Samson drank, his energy returned and he was recharged. Thus that place is still called by the name En-hakkore in Lehi today.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or Jawbone Hill