Bible Strands
Judges 15:3
Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Samson addresses his Philistine in-laws immediately after his father-in-law gives his wife to another man. He speaks this declaration right before capturing three hundred foxes to burn the Philistine crops.
The words — נִקֵּ֥יתִי (ni.Kei.ti) literally means “I will be free” or “I will be blameless,” and הַ/פַּ֖עַם (ha./Pa.'am) means “this time.” Together they frame his next action as a justified retaliation rather than mere vengeance.
The thread — The cycle of betrayal and retaliation runs through Judges 14:15, where Samson’s wife is pressured to extract his riddle answer, and Judges 15:2, where the father-in-law justifies taking her.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Samson claims moral cover for violence while executing a calculated attack. Readers must observe how personal betrayal triggers a cycle of retribution without editorial moral judgment.
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 Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
Cross-references
- Judges 14:15 So 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?”