But if you cannot tell me what it is: Samson now states the alternative condition, the one he expects will happen. He fully believes the Philistines will not be able to solve the meaning of his riddle. But is a good contrastive rendering of the Hebrew waw conjunction here. If introduces the alternative condition Samson poses. The pronoun you refers to his thirty companions. Tell me what it is is literally “tell me.” However, many languages will have to add an object, as Revised Standard Version has done. Translators can be even more explicit by saying “But if you cannot tell me the meaning of the riddle,” “But if you are unable to explain [or, tell] me what it means,” or simply “But if you cannot solve it.”

Then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments: See verse 14.12. If Samson’s companions fail to solve the riddle, they will have to provide him with the same clothes he just mentioned. In his proposition, if they win, he will give each one a set of clothes, but if he wins the bet, he will receive thirty sets. As in the previous verse, this consequence is introduced by the Hebrew waw conjunction, which is well rendered then. You shall give me is literally “you, you will give me.” In Hebrew you occurs both as an independent pronoun and as a suffix on the verb here. It is difficult to know if Samson is being light-hearted or whether he is purposely provoking the Philistines.

14.12-13 presents perfectly balanced parallel clauses, perhaps prefiguring the parallel lines of the riddle. The parallelism is as follows:

If you can tell me … then I will give you….
If you cannot tell me … then you will give me….

Repetition is an important aspect of the style here, and translators should try to retain as much repetition as possible. However, if it poses problems in the receptor language, translators may combine some of the information here as in Good News Translation.

And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it”: The Philistine men accept the challenge to solve the riddle. Put your riddle is literally “Riddle your riddle” (see verse 14.12). The clause that we may hear it may be unnecessary in some languages. We might say “Let’s hear your riddle!” or “What is your riddle? Let’s hear it!” Contemporary English Version gives a dynamic rendering, saying “It’s a bet! … Tell us the riddle!” In some languages there is a set way to respond to a riddle and that can be used here.

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .