Judges 15:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Samson said to them, "If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit."

NIV: Samson said to them, "Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you."

NASB: Then Samson said to them, 'If this is how you act, I will certainly take revenge on you, and only after that will I stop.'

CSB: Then Samson told them, "Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you."

NLT: Because you did this,' Samson vowed, 'I won’t rest until I take my revenge on you!'

KJV: And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

NKJV: Samson said to them, “Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.”

The Philistines have burned Samson's former bride and father-in-law to death in retaliation for his burning the crops around Timnah. It's unclear why they thought this would hurt Samson or make him stop attacking the Philistines. An alternative possibility is that they believed that killing those who insulted him would appease Samson. Either way, their plan backfired completely. Samsons sees this as his enemy striking back, so he wants vengeance…again.

Now Samson apparently wants to avenge the deaths of his former family. He swears he will accomplish just that. He promises himself he will quit after one more counterstrike. Samson's words resonate with anyone who has ever been caught up in a revenge cycle. One person attempts to "settle the score" by hurting another. That person strikes back to "make things even." Of course, the first party now feels like one more strike is needed to balance the scales. Since neither side ever agrees that justice has been reached, the cycle never concludes easily. This is how petty offenses turn into feuds and insults lead to open war.

Despite Samson's promise, the Lord does not want the cycle to end until the Philistines have been thoroughly defeated. Israel has been complacent under oppression, so God sends an agent of chaos (Judges 13:5; 14:4) to disrupt the grip of Philistia over Israel. Samson's latest retaliation isn't described in detail, other than to note its brutality (Judges 15:8).

Judges 15:1–8 follows some unspecified time after the scandalous events of the previous chapter. After Samson stormed out of his wedding feast, the bride's father gave her to someone else. Samson responds to this news by torching Philistine crops. They respond by burning his former bride and her father alive. Samson viciously retaliates, then hides. This leads to another confrontation between Israel and the Philistines.

Samson returns to Timnah to visit his bride, after leaving in a rage when she spoiled his unfair riddle. Her father thought Samson had abandoned her, so she was given to another man. Samson responds by tying animals to torches and setting them loose in Philistine wheat fields. He also burns the harvested crops and olive orchards. The Philistines kill Samson's former bride and father-in-law in retaliation. Samson's vengeance ensues. When the men of Judah turn Samson over to a Philistine army the Lord's Spirit empowers him. Samson slaughters the enemy soldiers with the jawbone of a donkey, and God rescues him from thirst with a miraculous spring of water.

Judges 15 describes a cycle of retribution which continues to spiral from the events of the previous chapter. This results in a Philistine army attempting to capture and kill Samson. Instead, God empowers him to kill masses of the enemy with only a donkey's jawbone. This furthers the Lord's intent to disrupt Philistine control over Israel (Judges 13:5). It does not seem to alter Samson's carnal nature, as his weakness for women continues in the following chapter.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).