Judges 15:18

And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Samson addresses the LORD immediately after discarding the jawbone that defeated the Philistines, positioned between his moment of victory and his physical collapse.

The words — וַ/יִּצְמָא֮ (va/i.yitz.Ma') means "and he was thirsty" and מְאֹד֒ (me.'Od) means "very," marking acute physical depletion. נָתַ֣תָּ (na.Ta.ta) translates literally as "you have given," directly attributing the recent military success to divine action.

The thread — The cry for deliverance parallels the distress of Psalms 22:14 and the plea in Psalms 3:7, while the pattern of human exhaustion meeting divine provision aligns with the weakness theme in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

Why it lands — The text records Samson’s explicit question about dying of thirst and falling to the uncircumcised, establishing that physical collapse follows spiritual reliance and that survival depends on God’s response to direct petition.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

And he was sore athirst, and 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?

Cross-references

Psalms 3:7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
Psalms 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
2 Corinthians 12:7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
Genesis 12:12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
Genesis 20:11 Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’
Genesis 32:31 The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.
Judges 8:4 Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit.
Judges 16:28 Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”
1 Samuel 17:26 David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
1 Samuel 17:36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”