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Judges 15:1

in Judges 15

Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

KJV

But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

This verse in Judges 15

Commentary

9 notes on this verse
Visited his wife with a kid - A common present (see Gen 38:17; Luk 15:29). From Samson’s wife being still in her father’s house, it would seem that she was only betrothed, not actually married, to his companion.

This site's exposition

at the time of the wheat harvest

on Judges 15:1-3

The reader learned at 14:20 that the wife was given away, so the chapter opens with Samson finding out what the last one reported. Wheat harvest fixes the season. Albert Barnes takes her still being in her father's house as a sign she was betrothed rather than married.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Letter 19: To Vigilius · Written before 397.

proposed

But the perfidy of the maiden being thus discovered, he abstained from intercourse with her, and returned to his father's house. The damsel, disturbed in mind, and justly dreading that the wrath of this mighty man would be kindled into fury by this wrong, gave her hand to another man, one whom Samson, relying on his fidelity, had brought with him as his bridesman to his marriage. But neither by this expedient of a marriage did she avoid offence.

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Wheat harvest - Which was the proper season for what follows. With a kid - As a token of reconciliation. Into the chamber - Into her chamber, which the women had separate from the mens.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), so that the straw being dry it soon burnt the shocks of corn that were cut, and the standing corn, and the vineyards and olives. This was a waste of the good creatures, but where other acts of hostility are lawful destroying the forage is justly reckoned to be so: if he might take away their lives, he might take away their livelihood.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

But it came to pass within a while after,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The value of the present was inconsiderable, but it was intended as a token of reconciliation, and perhaps was then so used, when those that had been at variance were brought together again; he sent this, that he might sup with her in her apartments, and she with him, on his provision, and so they might be friends again.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

It was the dry season, dry far beyond our experience, and the grain in a most combustible state. Samson visited his wife with a kid--It is usual for a visitor in the East to carry some present; in this case, it might be not only as a token of civility, but of reconciliation. he said--that is, to himself.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Visited his wife with a kid - On her betraying him, he had, no doubt, left her in great disgust. After some time his affection appears to have returned; and, taking a kid, or perhaps a fawn, as a present, he goes to make reconciliation, and finds her given to his brideman; probably, the person to whom she betrayed his riddle.

The words behind it

20 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיְהִ֨יand it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • מִיָּמִ֜יםfrom days

    miyamimH3117 →2304 times

  • בִּימֵ֣יin [the] days of

    bimeiH3117 →2304 times

  • קְצִיר־[the] harvest of

    ketzir-H7105 →

  • חִטִּ֗יםwheat<s>

    chitimH2406 →

  • וַיִּפְקֹ֨דand he visited

    vaiyifkodH6485 →303 times

  • שִׁמְשׁ֤וֹןSamson

    shimshonH8123 →38 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אִשְׁתּוֹ֙wife his

    ʾishtoH802 →781 times

  • בִּגְדִ֣יwith a kid of

    bigdiH1423 →16 times

  • עִזִּ֔יםgoats

    ʾizimH5795 →74 times

  • וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אָבֹ֥אָהlet me go

    ʾavoahH935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אִשְׁתִּ֖יwife my

    ʾishtiH802 →781 times

  • הֶחָ֑דְרָהthe chamber towards

    hechaderahH2315 →38 times

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • נְתָנ֥וֹhe permitted him

    netanoH5414 →2011 times

  • אָבִ֖יהָfather her

    ʾavihaH1 →1212 times

  • לָבֽוֹא׃to go

    lavo'H935 →2568 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 6:4

    The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 13:33

      We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”

    • Deuteronomy 3:11

      (For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

    • 2 Samuel 21:15–22

      Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines; but David became exhausted.

    • 1 Samuel 17:4

      Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

    • Deuteronomy 2:20–21

      (That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.

  • Through

    Luke 15:29

    But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with…

    it leads to

    • Zechariah 7:3

      by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

  • Through

    Genesis 38:17

    “I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”

    it leads to

    • Genesis 38:20

      Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

    • Ezekiel 16:33

      Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Judges

Samson Destroys the Philistines with an Ass' Jawbone — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Samson Destroys the Philistines with an Ass' Jawbone — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Ambrose of Milan, Letter 19: To Vigilius; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.