15:1 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of
wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and
he said, I will a go in to my wife into the chamber. But
her father would not suffer him to go in.
(a) That is, I will use her as my wife.
15:3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more b
blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a
displeasure.
(b) For through his father-in-law's actions, he was moved
again to take vengeance on the Philistines.
15:5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let [them] go
into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up
both the c shocks, and also the standing corn, with the
vineyards [and] olives.
(c) Or, that which was reaped and gathered.
15:6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they
answered, Samson, the son in law of the d Timnite,
because he had taken his wife, and given her to his
companion. And the Philistines came up, and e burnt her
and her father with fire.
(d) Or, the citizen of Timnath.
(e) So the wicked do not punish vice for love of justice,
but for fear of danger, which also might come to them.
15:10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us?
And they answered, To f bind Samson are we come up, to
do to him as he hath done to us.
(f) And so being our prisoner to punish him.
15:11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the
rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the
Philistines [are] rulers over us? g what [is] this
[that] thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As
they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
(g) Such was their gross ignorance, that they judged God's
great benefits to be a plague to them.
15:13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee
fast, and h deliver thee into their hand: but surely we
will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new
cords, and brought him up from the rock.
(h) Thus they would rather betray their brother than use
the means that God had given for their deliverance.
15:15 And he found a i new jawbone of an ass, and put forth
his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
(i) That is, of an ass recently slain.
15:18 And he was sore athirst, and k called on the LORD, and
said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand
of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall
into the hand of the uncircumcised?
(k) By which it appears that he did these things in faith,
and so with a true zeal to glorify God, and deliver
his country.
