מֵרֵעַ

From the study of Proverbs 19:7

Range of meaning

Companion, close associate, personal friend; a strengthened form related to rēaʿ, 'neighbour, fellow'. It can denote an attached companion or confidant (e.g., the 'companions' of Samson, Judg 14:20; Hushai-type roles).

Against the English

'Friends' is fine. The word implies a chosen, personal bond, set against the inherited bond of 'brothers'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Prov 19:4: 'the poor is separated from his friend (rēʿēhû)'. Prov 19:6 (the previous verse): 'everyone is a friend (hārēaʿ) to the man of gifts'. Gen 26:26 and Judg 14:11, 20 use mērēaʿ for formal companions.

From the study of Judges 14:11

Range of meaning

From the root r-'-h, 'to associate with, keep company'. Like the more common rea' ('neighbour, fellow'), it means a companion. In certain settings it means a recognised companion: a confidant or adviser at court, or the groom's attendant at a wedding.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have 'companions', which is accurate but flat. BSB has 'thirty men to accompany him', which drops the sense of a recognised wedding role. Modern readers may hear 'friends', meaning men Samson knew and liked, but these are strangers assigned by the hosts.

How it drifted

English 'companion' and 'friend' describe a personal, chosen relationship. The Hebrew can name a social role, as English 'groomsman' or 'best man' does.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 26:26 calls Ahuzzath the mērēa' of Abimelech, king of Gerar, which is also a Philistine setting. This is often taken as an official title ('the king's friend', i.e. adviser). In the Samson story the word comes back in 14:20 ('his companion, who had been his best man', literally 'who had companioned him') and in 15:2, 6, where Samson's wife is given to that man. Proverbs 19:7 uses it of ordinary friends. A later echo of the role is 'the friend of the bridegroom' in John 3:29 and the 'sons of the bridechamber' in Mark 2:19.

From the study of Judges 14:20

Range of meaning

A noun from the root rʿh, "to associate with". It means a companion or associate, often someone attached to a person in an official or social role, not simply a friend one feels close to. It occurs only a handful of times: Gen 26:26 (Ahuzzath, the "companion" or adviser of King Abimelech, apparently a court post), Judg 14:11, 14:20, 15:2, 15:6, 2 Sam 3:8, and Prov 19:4, 7.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and NASB use "companion" and then "friend". BSB has "one of the men who had accompanied him", NIV "one of his companions", ESV and NLT bring in "best man". "Companion" is the safest choice. "Friend" in modern English suggests a bond of affection that the story does not support.

How it drifted

In modern English "friend" means someone you have chosen because you like them. The Hebrew word is closer to an assigned associate or attendant. In 14:11 the thirty mērēʿîm are provided by the Philistines ("when they saw him"), possibly as escort, possibly as minders. Samson did not pick them.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Gen 26:26 the word seems to name an official at the Philistine king's court. Ancient Mesopotamian wedding customs had a formal "friend of the groom": the Laws of Hammurabi §161 (about 1750 BC) rule that when a groom's comrade (Akkadian ibru) slanders him and the marriage is called off, "his comrade shall not marry his wife." So the groom's companion marrying the bride was a recognised wrong in that world. The Akkadian word susapinnu (wedding attendant) passed into later Jewish Aramaic and Hebrew as shoshbin, the groomsman of rabbinic sources. In John 3:29 the Baptist calls himself "the friend of the bridegroom".