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10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking[a] us?” The Philistines[b] said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.” 11 So 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.” 12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me[c] you will not kill[d] me.” 13 They said to him, “We promise![e] We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 15:10 tn Or “come up against.”
  2. Judges 15:10 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. Judges 15:12 tn Or “swear to me.”
  4. Judges 15:12 tn Heb “meet [with hostility]”; “harm.” In light of v. 13, “kill” is an appropriate translation.
  5. Judges 15:13 tn Heb “No,” meaning that they will not harm him.

10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”

“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”

11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us?(A) What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Samson said, “Swear to me(B) that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

13 “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes(C) and led him up from the rock.

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