What Does Judges 15:3 Mean in the King James?
And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“blameless” 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.
Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.THE THREAD
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.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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