he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.
Parallel translations
- WEB Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.
- KJV And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
- BSB Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
- NKJV Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
- NASB And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed outwards powerfully, so that the house fell on the governors and all the people who were in it. And the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime.
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
Crying "Let me die with the Philistines," Samson pushes with all his might and the temple collapses, killing more in his death than in his life. His final act is his greatest deliverance.
Overview
God answers Samson's prayer, and the falling temple destroys the Philistine lords and a great multitude. Samson dies with them, giving his life to strike Israel's enemies. His self-sacrificial death that brings deliverance offers a faint, imperfect foreshadowing of Christ, who through His own death won a far greater and saving victory over His people's true enemies.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Matt 16:25For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.
- Phil 2:8And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
- 1 Th 5:2For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
- Matt 24:38–39For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,
- Phil 2:17Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
- Acts 21:13Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
- Eccl 9:12For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.
- Job 31:3Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
- Ps 62:3How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
- Heb 2:14–15Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
- Phil 2:30because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
- Acts 20:24But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.
- Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
- Gen 3:15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
- Heb 12:1–4Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
- Col 2:15having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
- Judg 15:8He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock.
- Judg 14:19Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.
- Judg 15:15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 16:30 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.