What Does Judges 15:10 Mean in the King James?

And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

Judges 15:10 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Philistines turn Samson’s past action into the reason they intend to bind him in return.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks now through the blunt arithmetic of retaliation: the harm attributed to Samson becomes the stated reason for binding him. The Philistines describe the restraint they intend as an answer in kind, making injury both the grievance and the measure of their response.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the claim that retaliation is merely something that happens to you: the speakers name binding as what they have come to do, and make the earlier injury their warrant.

THE ROOT

לֶאְסֹר

leʾsōr

GROWS FROM

אָסַר

ʾāsar

to bind, confine, or restrain

This root’s word family also names a captive (⁨אָסִיר⁩, ʾāsîr) and what is bound or forbidden (⁨אָסוּר⁩, ʾāsûr). English can make “bind” sound like one physical act; Hebrew keeps capture and imposed restriction close together. Here the intended answer to injury is a tightening of another person’s freedom.

ALSO GROWS

ʾāsîr: captive, prisoner

אָסִיר

The root names not only the act of binding but also the person held by it.

ʾāsûr: bound, restrained; forbidden

אָסוּר

The word family extends from physical bonds to restriction, deepening the force of the restraint the Philistines intend.

יְהוּדָה

Yehudah

GROWS FROM

ידה

y-d-h

to praise, give thanks, or acknowledge

The name Judah carries the language of praise and acknowledgment, while the verse gives these men a role in turning injury into a reciprocal demand. The name and the action stand side by side without softening the binding they intend.

ALSO GROWS

yādāh: to praise, thank, or acknowledge

יָדָה

This verb carries the verbal seed associated with the name Judah.

tōdāh: thanksgiving, praise

תּוֹדָה

This related word keeps the name’s connection to acknowledgment and praise audible.

THE PATTERN

Retaliation makes prior harm the measure for the next harm, keeping the exchange in motion.

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

Genesis 4:24 · KJVLamech uses an earlier act of violence to justify a multiplied act of vengeance.

Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.

Leviticus 24:20 · KJVThe verse states the same measure-for-measure logic that the Philistines use.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

Matthew 5:38 · KJVJesus names the familiar rule in which an injury sets the measure for the return.

THE THREAD

And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

Judges 15:13 · KJV

The next verse turns this intention into action: Judah binds Samson with new cords and brings him from the rock. The same root, ⁨אָסַר⁩ (ʾāsar, bind), joins the announced purpose here to the physical restraint there.

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