Judges 15:20

Contemporary English Version

Samson was a leader of Israel for twenty years, but the Philistines were still the rulers of Israel.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Hebrew Names Version
He judged Yisra'el in the days of the Pelishtim twenty years.

King James Version
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Lexham English Bible
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

English Standard Version
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

New Century Version
Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

New English Translation
Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.

Amplified Bible
And Samson judged Israel in the days of [occupation by] the Philistines for twenty years.

New American Standard Bible
So he judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And hee iudged Israel in the dayes of the Philistims twentie yeeres.

Legacy Standard Bible
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Complete Jewish Bible
He judged Isra'el in the period of the P'lishtim for twenty years.

Darby Translation
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Easy-to-Read Version
Samson was a judge for the Israelites for 20 years during the time of the Philistines.

George Lamsa Translation
And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Good News Translation
Samson led Israel for twenty years while the Philistines ruled the land.

Literal Translation
And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he iudged Israel in the tyme of the Philistynes twetye yeare.

American Standard Version
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Bible in Basic English
And he was judge of Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he iudged Israel in the dayes of the Philistines, twentie yeres.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

King James Version (1611)
And he iudged Israel in the dayes of the Philistines twentie yeeres.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

English Revised Version
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Berean Standard Bible
And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he demyde Israel in the daies of Filistiym twenti yeer.

Young's Literal Translation
And he judgeth Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Update Bible Version
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, twenty years.

World English Bible
He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

New King James Version
And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

New Living Translation
Samson judged Israel for twenty years during the period when the Philistines dominated the land.

New Life Bible
Samson ruled Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

New Revised Standard
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, twenty years.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, twenty years.

Revised Standard Version
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

THE MESSAGE
Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ Samson was so thirsty that he prayed, "Our Lord , you helped me win a battle against a whole army. Please don't let me die of thirst now. Those heathen Philistines will carry off my dead body." ¹⁹ Samson was tired and weary, but God sent water gushing from a rock. Samson drank some and felt strong again. Samson named the place Caller Spring, because he had called out to God for help. The spring is still there at Jawbone. ²⁰ Samson was a leader of Israel for twenty years, but the Philistines were still the rulers of Israel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Judges 13:1, Judges 13:5, Judges 16:31,"He seems to have judged South-west Israel during twenty years of their servitude of the Philistines.

Reciprocal: Genesis 49:16 - General Genesis 49:17 - shall be

Cross-References

Genesis 14:5
A year later King Chedorlaomer and his allies attacked and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, and the Emites in Shaveh-Kiriathaim.

Isaiah 17:5
Israel will be like wheat fields in Rephaim Valley picked clean of grain.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. While they had the power over the Israelites, who were not entirely delivered out of their hands by Samson, he only began to deliver them, but did not completely do it; though he got many advantages over them, and wrought many salvations and deliverances, yet was not the author of perfect salvation, see Judges 13:5 however, he was a check upon the Philistines, and protected the Israelites from heavier oppressions, which otherwise they would have come under; and no doubt administered justice and judgment among them, and was an instrument of their reformation, and of preserving them from idolatry; for in such things the work of a judge chiefly lay: some from hence observe, that this shows the years of servitude and bondage are included in the years of the judges.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 15:20. He judged Israel-twenty years. — In the margin it is said, He seems to have judged southwest Israel during twenty years of their servitude of the Philistines, Judges 13:1. Instead of עשרים שנה esrim shanah, twenty years, the Jerusalem Talmud has ארבעים שנה arbaim shanah, forty years; but this reading is not acknowledged by any MS. or version. According to Calmet, the twenty years of the judicature of Samson began the eighteenth year of the subjection of Israel to the Philistines; and these twenty years are included in the judicature of the high priest Eli.

THE burning of the Philistines' corn by the means of foxes and firebrands is a very remarkable circumstance; and there is a story told by Ovid, in the 4th book of his Fasti, that bears a striking similitude to this; and is supposed by some learned men to allude to Samson and his foxes. The poet is at a loss to account for this custom, but brings in an old man of Carseoli, with what must have appeared to himself a very unsatisfactory solution. The passage begins as follows: -

Tertia post Hyadas cum luxerit orta, remotas,

Carcere partitos Circus habebit equos

Cur igitur missae vinctis ardentia taedis

Terga ferant vulpes, causa docenda mihi?

Vid. OVID, Fastor. lib. iv., ver. 679.

The substance of the whole account, which is too long to be transcribed, is this: It was a custom in Rome, celebrated in the month of April to let loose a number of foxes in the circus, with lighted flambeaux on their backs; and the Roman people took pleasure in seeing these animals run about till roasted to death by the flames with which they were enveloped. The poet wishes to know what the origin of this custom was, and is thus informed by an old man of the city of Carseoli: "A frolicksome young lad, about ten years of age, found, near a thicket, a fox that had stolen away many fowls from the neighbouring roosts. Having enveloped his body with hay and straw, he set it on fire, and let the fox loose. The animal, in order to avoid the flames, took to the standing corn which was then ready for the sickle; and the wind, driving the flames with double violence, the crops were everywhere consumed. Though this transaction is long since gone by, the commemoration of it still remains; for, by a law of this city, every fox that is taken is burnt to death. Thus the nation awards to the foxes the punishment of being burnt alive, for the destruction of the ripe corn formerly occasioned by one of these animals."

Both Serrarius and Bochart reject this origin of the custom given by Ovid; and insist that the custom took its rise from the burning of the Philistines' corn by Samson's foxes. The origin ascribed to the custom by the Carseolian they consider as too frivolous and unimportant to be commemorated by a national festival. The time of the observation does not accord with the time of harvest about Rome and in Italy, but it perfectly accords with the time of harvest in Palestine, which was at least as early as April. Nor does the circumstance of the fox wrapped in hay and let loose, the hay being set on fire, bear any proper resemblance to the foxes let loose in the circus with burning brands on their backs.

These learned men therefore conclude that it is much more natural to suppose that the Romans derived the custom from Judea, where probably the burning of the Philistines' corn might, for some time, have been annually commemorated.

The whole account is certainly very singular, and has not a very satisfactory solution in the old man's tale, as related by the Roman poet.

All public institutions have had their origin in facts; and if, through the lapse of time or loss of records, the original facts be lost, we may legitimately look for them in cases where there is so near a resemblance as in that above.