Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines, when I harm them.”
- KJV And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
- NKJV And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!”
- NASB Samson then said to them, “This time I will have been blameless regarding the Philistines when I do them harm.”
- NLT Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.”
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 declares he will be blameless in taking vengeance on the Philistines for this wrong. He frames his coming violence as justified retaliation.
Overview
Samson views the Philistines collectively as responsible for the betrayal and resolves to act. While Scripture nowhere commends personal vengeance as a virtue (Rom. 12:19), the narrative presents Samson as God's appointed deliverer whose conflicts serve to break Philistine oppression of Israel. The verse highlights how God can work through deeply imperfect agents to accomplish judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Judg 14:15So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
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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 15:3 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
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