And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Parallel translations
- WEB He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
- KJV And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
- BSB And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
- NASB So he judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
- NLT Samson judged Israel for twenty years during the period when the Philistines dominated the land.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Samson judged Israel twenty years during Philistine domination. This summary marks a stage in his career.
Overview
This judgeship notice (repeated at 16:31) frames Samson's leadership as spanning two decades amid ongoing Philistine oppression. Unlike earlier judges, Samson never frees Israel fully; he only begins to deliver them (13:5). The partial, flawed deliverance leaves the reader longing for a greater and complete Deliverer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Judg 13:1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
- Judg 16:31Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father. He judged Israel twenty years.
- Judg 13:5for, behold, you shall conceive, and give birth to a son. No razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
- Heb 11:32What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets;
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 15:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.