Judges 15:19 · Bible study
Judges 15:19 Commentary: The Hollow Place at Lehi
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the debate: did water come from a jawbone or a rock? This verse shows God’s miraculous provision in response to Samson’s desperate prayer.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God splits a mortar-shaped hollow in the rock at Lehi, providing water that revives Samson; the spring is named En Hakkore (“spring of the crier”) as a lasting memorial to answered prayer.
- Key words: Maktesh (H4388), “mortar, hollow place”; Lehi (H3895/3896), “jaw” as a place name; ruach (H7307), “spirit, breath, vigour”; En Hakkore (H5875), “spring of the one calling.”
- Main debate: Whether the water came from a tooth socket in the jawbone (an older rabbinic and patristic view) or from a rock cleft at a location called Lehi (the consensus of modern commentators).
- Theological theme: God’s nearness in physical extremity, the Creator who splits rock to provide water hears the cry of His servant and restores life.
- Best use: A model of honest, desperate prayer that names both God’s past faithfulness and present need, followed by memorial naming that helps a community remember.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.
WEB World English Bible 2000
But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day.
KJV King James Version 1769
But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En–hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
But God clave the hollow place that is in Lehi, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore the name thereof was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi, unto this day.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And God cleaveth the hollow place which is in Lehi, and waters come out of it, and he drinketh, and his spirit cometh back, and he reviveth; therefore hath one called its name `The fountain of him who is calling,' which is in Lehi unto this day.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And God clave the hallow rock which was in Lehi, and water came out of it. And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of the ass and waters issued out of it. And when he had drunk them, he refreshed his spirit, and recovered his strength. Therefore the name of that place was called The Spring of him that invoked from the jawbone, until this present day.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Entonces quebró Dios una muela que estaba en la quijada, y salieron de allí aguas, y bebió, y recobró su espíritu, y reanimóse. Por tanto llamó su nombre de aquel lugar, En-haccore, el cual es en Lehi, hasta hoy.
Então quebrou Deus uma cavidade em Leí, e saíram dali águas, e bebeu, e recuperou seu espírito, e reanimou-se. Portanto chamou seu nome daquele lugar, En-Hacoré, o qual é em Leí, até hoje.
Dieu fendit la cavité du rocher qui est à Léchi, et il en sortit de l’ eau. Samson but, son esprit se ranima, et il reprit vie. C’ est de là qu’ on a appelé cette source En-Hakkoré; elle existe encore aujourd’ hui à Léchi.
Da spaltete Gott die Höhlung in Lehi, das Wasser herausging; und als er trank, kam der Geist wieder, und er ward erquickt. Darum heißt er noch heutigestages “des Anrufers Brunnen”, der in Lehi ist.
Toen kloofde God de holle plaats, die in Lechi is, en er ging water uit van dezelve, en hij dronk. Toen kwam zijn geest weder, en hij werd levend. Daarom noemde hij haar naam: De fontein des aanroepers, die in Lechi is, tot op dezen dag.
Allora Iddio fendé la roccia concava ch’è a Lehi, e ne uscì dell’acqua. Sansone bevve, il suo spirito si rianimò, ed egli riprese vita. Donde il nome di En-Hakkore dato a quella fonte, che esiste anche al dì d’oggi a Lehi.
A tak rozszczepił Bóg skałę w Lechy, i wyszły z niej wody, i napił się, i wrócił się duch jego a ożył; przetoż nazwał imię onego źródła: źródło wzywającego, które jest w Lechy aż do dnia dzisiejszego.
И разверз Бог ямину в Лехе, и потекла из нее вода. Он напился, и возвратился дух его, и он ожил; оттого и наречено имя месту сему: "Источник взывающего", который в Лехе до сего дня.
神 就使 利希 的 窪處 裂開，有水 從其中 湧出來。參孫喝了，精神 復 原；因此 那泉名 叫隱‧哈歌利，那泉 直到 今 日 還在利希。
Then God made a crack in the hollow rock in Lehi and water came out of it; and after drinking, his spirit came back to him and he was strong again; so that place was named En-hakkore; it is in Lehi to this day.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Judges 15:19
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Scholars agree that God miraculously provided water to revive Samson after his victory, but they differ on the precise source. The phrase “the hollow place that is in Lehi” (Hebrew ham-maktesh) is the crux. Barnes, the Cambridge Bible, and Keil and Delitzsch all read maktesh as “mortar”, a basin-shaped hollow in the rock formation at a place called Lehi. This interpretation respects Lehi as a proper place name (already used in Judges 15:9,14,17) and explains why the spring could still be pointed out in the historian’s day. Gill, while noting some rabbinic views that took the word as a tooth socket, also favors the rock cleft reading, citing Josephus. The name En Hakkore (“spring of the crier”) memorializes Samson’s prayer. The miracle echoes God’s provision of water from the rock at Horeb and Kadesh (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8). What is not debated: God heard and answered a desperate prayer, restoring his servant’s life and spirit.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Jawbone-socket tradition: Leads on the literal sense of 'lechi' as jawbone; supported by some rabbinic midrash and patristic readings.
- Rock-mortar interpretation: Draws on place-name evidence (Lehi as location in vv.9,14,17), the word maktesh as 'mortar,' and the historical spring noted by Jerome and others.
What is clear: God miraculously provided water in direct response to Samson’s desperate prayer, restoring his life and spirit.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Source of water: rock vs. jawbone | God miraculously brought water to revive Samson; the miracle was a direct answer to his prayer. | Some early rabbis (Rashi, Kimchi) and church fathers understood the hollow place as a tooth socket in the jawbone. Most modern commentators (Barnes, Cambridge Bible, Keil & Delitzsch, Gill) argue it is a mortar-shaped rock cleft at the place called Lehi, noting that a jawbone could not sustain a spring visible 'to this day.' |
| Meaning of En Hakkore | The name commemorates the event and involves a play on the Hebrew word for 'call' or 'cry.' | Some read it as 'spring of the crier/partridge' (the partridge is called a 'crier' in Hebrew). Others take it as 'spring of him who called,' referring directly to Samson's prayer. Both see the naming as a memorial of divine help. |
| The role of Samson's prayer | Samson's prayer is genuine and God answers it; his desperation is real and he turns to Yahweh. | Matthew Henry notes that Samson's earlier victory song omitted God, and his thirst may have been a chastening. Keil & Delitzsch see no such chastening, only the natural exhaustion of a servant fully engaged in God's cause. Both agree the prayer is heard. |
| Connection to the wilderness miracles | The provision of water from rock in Judge 15:19 echoes the Exodus and Numbers accounts. | Some commentators (Keil & Delitzsch) see a direct typological parallel, while others caution that Samson is not Moses or the people of Israel, he is a flawed judge. Still, all affirm that the same God provides water in distress. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The setting is the wheat harvest, likely late spring or early summer in the Shephelah lowlands of Judah. Samson had just slaughtered a thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone, then climbed a hill and named it Ramath Lehi (“Hill of the Jawbone”). Now he collapses from thirst. His prayer is raw: “You have given this great deliverance… and now shall I die of thirst?” (Judges 15:18).
The word maktesh (translated “hollow place”) normally means a mortar or pounding basin. In Proverbs 27:22 it describes a mortar used for grinding grain. Here it likely refers to a bowl-shaped depression in the limestone rock of Lehi. The word Lehi itself means “jawbone,” but by the time of this story it was already a place name (Judges 15:9, 14). A rock formation that looked like a jaw may have given the location its name. God splits that hollow place, and water gushes out, a direct parallel to the water from the rock at Horeb (Exodus 17:6) and Kadesh (Numbers 20:8).
To the original audience, the miracle proved that God who provides water in the wilderness also provides for his embattled judge. The name En Hakkore (“Well of the Crier”) preserves the memory of Samson’s cry and God’s answer. Jerome, writing in the fourth century, reports a spring still called “Samson’s fountain” near the road from Socho to Eleutheropolis. That spring, identified with this event, kept the story vivid for centuries. The geography matters: a real place, a real spring, a real God who acts in history.
Textual Notes
The Hebrew text of Judges 15:19 is stable across manuscripts. The Masoretic Text reading of ham-maktesh (“the mortar/hollow place”) and ba-llechi (“at Lehi”) is consistent. No significant variants are noted in the supplied sources. The main interpretive difference lies in how maktesh is understood, not in what the letters say.
Reception History
Early Jewish interpretation, represented by the rabbis of Bereishit Rabbah §98, Rashi and Kimchi, often took the hollow place as a tooth socket in the jawbone itself. Some church fathers followed this literal reading, seeing a miracle parallel to water from the rock. By the fourth century, Jerome identified a spring near Eleutheropolis called “Samson’s fountain,” a location that tied the event to a visible landmark rather than the discarded jawbone. Medieval Christian commentators like the Glossa Ordinaria repeated the tooth-socket view, but Renaissance and Reformation scholars (Luther, Calvin’s tradition) began to question it. Modern critical scholarship from the 19th century onward, represented by the Cambridge Bible and Keil & Delitzsch, has firmly established the rock-cleft interpretation. The spring tradition, attested by pilgrims and geographers, keeps the story rooted in the land of Israel to this day.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Desperate prayer from an exhausted servant. After a great victory, Samson faces physical collapse. His prayer is honest and direct, he names God’s past deliverance and his present need.
- God’s miraculous provision from an unexpected place. The water does not come from a well or a cloud. It comes from a rock cleft shaped like a mortar. God provides in ways that match the moment: a tangible, life-giving spring.
- The naming of the place as a memorial. En Hakkore, “the spring of him who called”, becomes a landmark of grace. Every future generation that drinks from it remembers: God hears, God answers, God restores.
Five-point outline
- The victory that leads to exhaustion. Even great spiritual successes leave us spent. Samson’s physical need exposes human limits.
- The cry of the servant. He calls on Yahweh, the same God who empowered his victory. Prayer is not a last resort; it is the first response of one who knows his source.
- God’s intervention: splitting the rock. The Creator breaks open the mortar-shaped hollow. He is Lord of nature, able to bring water from stone.
- The restoration of spirit and life. The Hebrew ruach (spirit) returns, the same word used for the Spirit that came upon Samson before battles. God restores both body and inner vigour.
- The lasting memorial: En Hakkore. The name outlasts the miracle. It becomes a testimony for the whole community, not just for Samson.
Illustration hooks
- A runner who crosses the finish line, then collapses from dehydration, victory does not cancel physical need.
- Finding an unexpected water fountain in a dry, barren place, provision you did not work for.
- Naming a trail or a camp after a rescue, “the cliff where Grandpa was saved.”
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does God care about my physical needs, or only my spiritual ones?
- Why does God sometimes let me hit exhaustion before He provides?
- What “En Hakkore”, what place of answered prayer, am I forgetting to name?
Leading a Discussion
This passage sits between Samson’s greatest victory, a thousand Philistines slain, and a twenty-year period of judging Israel. It is a short episode, but it holds a key question: what do we do when God’s work leaves us empty? The group should read Judges 15:9-20 together before beginning.
Discussion questions
- In verse 15, Samson kills a thousand men with a jawbone. What might have been going through his mind physically and emotionally by verse 18?
- Samson’s prayer in verse 18 begins with a statement of God’s past faithfulness. Why does he start there?
- The Hebrew word maktesh (hollow place) can mean a mortar or a tooth socket. How does the meaning change if water came from the rock or from the jawbone itself? What difference does it make for how we read the story?
- What does the name En Hakkore (“spring of the crier”) teach us about how God responds to desperate prayer?
- Read Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:8. Why might the writer of Judges want readers to see a connection to those wilderness miracles?
- In what situations do you find it hardest to believe that God cares about your physical and emotional limits, not just your spiritual duties?
- What “En Hakkore”, what naming of a place or moment of God’s help, could your group create together as a reminder of God’s provision?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 16:13 | She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” |
| Genesis 28:19 | He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. |
| Genesis 30:30 | For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?” |
| Genesis 45:27 | They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. |
| Exodus 17:15 | Moses built an altar, and called its name “Yahweh our Banner”. |
| I Samuel 30:12 | They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, and drank no water for three days and three nights. |
| Psalms 34:6 | This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. |
| Psalms 120:1 | A Song of Ascents. In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke corrects a common misreading: the "jaw" here is not the jawbone of the ass but a place named Lehi. God caused a fountain to spring up in a hollow at that spot, which became a well called En-hakkore to commemorate this miraculous provision.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes clarifies that the "hollow place in the jaw" refers not to Samson's jaw but to a basin-shaped hollow among the cliffs at a place called Lehi, literally "the mortar." He notes that a spring there was later known as Samson's spring by Jerome and medieval writers.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator separates the spring's historical identity from the legendary story, noting that En-hakkore was a real place known in the writer's day. The wordplay connecting it to Samson's cry was a later popular tradition, not the original meaning of the name.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note explains that the name Enhakkore means "the spring of him that called" because Samson called on the Lord in his desperate need, and God answered by providing water. The place was named to commemorate that prayer and deliverance.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill argues the water came from a rock at the place called Lehi, not from
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB highlights that the spring was named En-hakkore, meaning "supplication well," to commemorate Samson's prayer. The name reflects his piety and dependence on God when he cried out for help. This places the emphasis on Samson's faith, not just the physical refreshment he received.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch argue against the idea that water came from a tooth socket in the jawbone. They note the text says "the maktesh which is at Lechi," indicating a named hollow in the rock. The fountain's continued existence in the historian's day confirms God split a rock crevice.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange emphasizes the stark contrast between Judah's cowardice and Samson's heroism. Three thousand armed men come not to fight alongside their deliverer but to bind him for the Philistines, hoping to buy peace by surrendering their champion. Samson's greatest moment is when he voluntarily lets himself be bound rather than stain his hands with Israelite blood.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry sees Samson's extreme thirst as God's way of humbling him after the great victory, keeping him from pride over his strength. It may also have been a quiet rebuke for taking the glory himself instead of acknowledging God's hand. Blood, he notes, never quenches real thirst.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley rejects Matthew Henry's claim that the goodness of God's promised land will intensify the punishment of those who perish. He argues that this reasoning fails under predestination: if some are not elected, they never had a genuine offer, and if all the elect are saved, the grant was never free to the others.