What Does Judges 15:3 Mean?
And Samson said concerning them, Now I will be cleaner than the Philistines, though I do them harm.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.THE KEY
Samson calls himself clean in the same sentence where he names the harm he intends to do.
THE MEANING
Here, blame becomes comparative: Samson measures himself against the Philistines and calls himself clear even as he chooses harm. The calculation remains recognizable now, another person’s wrong can become the reason one’s own violence feels innocent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that someone else’s worse wrong makes my retaliation innocent.
THE ROOT
נִקֵּיתִי
niqqēṯî
GROWS FROM
נקה
n-q-h
Be clean, clear, or free of guilt.
“cleaner” in this verse is niqqēṯî. The word carries the sense of being cleared or left innocent. Samson applies that clean-account language to himself while announcing that he will do harm, exposing how retaliation can be counted as innocence when another person is judged first.
ALSO GROWS
nāqî: Clean, innocent, or guiltless.
נָקִי
This branch shows the state Samson claims for himself.
niqqāh: Be cleared of guilt or go unpunished.
נִקָּה
This branch brings out the sense of a person’s account being declared clear.
רָעָה
rāʿāh
GROWS FROM
רָעַע
r-ʿ-ʿ
Be bad, act wickedly, or cause harm.
The Hebrew word translated “displeasure” names evil or harm. The sentence therefore places Samson’s claim of innocence beside his own chosen harm, making the tension audible beneath the English phrasing.
ALSO GROWS
raʿ: Bad, evil, or harmful.
רַע
This branch names the quality of the act Samson says he will do.
hērēaʿ: Do harm or act wickedly.
הֵרֵעַ
This branch makes the action explicit: the harm is something Samson chooses to do.
THE PATTERN
Retaliation borrows another person’s guilt to make one’s own harm look clean.
Do not say, "I will do to him as he has done to me; I will return to the man according to his deed."But I say to you, do not stand against evil. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.Give back to no one evil for evil. Look ahead to what is beautiful in the eyes of all people.THE THREAD
You shall not lift the name of the LORD your God into emptiness, for the LORD will not clear him who lifts his name into emptiness.The Hebrew word translated “guiltless” comes from the same root as Samson’s “blameless.” The shared root sharpens the difference between declaring oneself clear and being cleared of guilt.
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