Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Judges 15:13

"We promise," they said. "We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won't kill you." They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Cord;   Etam;   Lehi;   Samson;   Thompson Chain Reference - Cords;   Samson;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Lehi;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Judges, book of;   Samson;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Cord;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Judges, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Israel;   Levi;   Marriage;   Philistines;   Samson;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Lehi ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cord;   Rope;   Samson;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“No,” they said, “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and led him away from the rock.
Hebrew Names Version
They spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand: but surely we will not kill you. They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
They said to him, "No, we will only bind you and give you into their hand; we will certainly not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes, and they brought him up from the rock.
English Standard Version
They said to him, "No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
New Century Version
The men from Judah said, "We agree. We will just tie you up and give you to the Philistines. We will not kill you." So they tied Samson with two new ropes and led him up from the cave in the rock.
New English Translation
They said to him, "We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you." They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.
Amplified Bible
So they said to him, "No, we will [only] bind you securely and place you into their hands; but we certainly will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock [of Etam].
New American Standard Bible
So they said to him, "No, but we will bind you tightly and give you into their hands; but we certainly will not kill you." Then they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And they answered him, saying, No, but we will bynde thee and deliuer thee vnto their hande, but we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two newe cordes, & brought him from the rocke.
Legacy Standard Bible
En hulle antwoord hom: Nee, ons sal jou net vasbind en oorgee in hulle hand, maar doodmaak sal ons jou stellig nie. Daarop bind hulle hom vas met twee nuwe toue en bring hom op uit die rots.
Contemporary English Version
"We promise," the men said. "We will only tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines. We won't kill you." Then they tied up his hands and arms with two brand-new ropes and led him away from Etam Rock. When the Philistines saw that Samson was being brought to their camp at Jawbone, they started shouting and ran toward him. But the Lord 's Spirit took control of Samson, and Samson broke the ropes, as though they were pieces of burnt cloth.
Complete Jewish Bible
They said to him, "No, but we will tie you up and hand you over to them. However, we promise not to kill you." So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
Darby Translation
And they spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand; but we certainly shall not put thee to death. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the cliff.
Easy-to-Read Version
The men from Judah said, "We agree. We will just tie you up and give you to the Philistines. We promise that we will not kill you." So they tied Samson with two new ropes and led him up from the cave in the rock.
George Lamsa Translation
And they said to him, No; but we will bind you and deliver you into their hands; but surely we will not kill you. So they bound him with two new chains and brought him up from the rock.
Good News Translation
"All right," they said, "we are only going to tie you up and hand you over to them. We won't kill you." So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff.
Literal Translation
And they spoke to him, saying, No, but we will certainly bind you, and will give you into their hand. But we certainly will not cause you to die. And they bound him with two thick cords, new ones, and brought him up from the rock.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They answered him: We wyll not kyll the, we wil but bynde the, & delyuer the in to their hande, & wyl not slaye ye. And they bounde him with two new coardes & caried him from the stone.
American Standard Version
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 ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
Bible in Basic English
And they said, No; we will take you and give you up into their hands, but truly we will not put you to death. So knotting two new cords round him they took him up from the rock.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
They aunswered him, saying: No, but we will bynde thee, & delyuer thee vnto their handes: but we wyll not kyll thee. And they bounde hym with two new cordes, and brought him from the rocke.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they spoke 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 ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
King James Version (1611)
And they spake vnto him, saying; No: but wee will binde thee fast, and deliuer thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cordes, and brought him vp from the rocke.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they spoke to him, saying, Nay, but we will only bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand, and will by no means slay thee: and they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him from that rock.
English Revised Version
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 ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
Berean Standard Bible
"No," they answered, "we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei seiden, We schulen not sle thee, but we schulen bitake thee boundun. And thei bounden him with twei newe cordis, and token fro the stoon of Ethan.
Young's Literal Translation
And they speak to him, saying, No, but we certainly bind thee, and have given thee into their hand, and we certainly do not put thee to death;' and they bind him with two thick bands, new ones, and bring him up from the rock.
Update Bible Version
And they spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand: but surely we will not kill you. And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they spoke to 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.
World English Bible
They spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand: but surely we will not kill you. They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
New King James Version
So they spoke to him, saying, "No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you." And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
New Living Translation
"We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines," they replied. "We won't kill you." So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
New Life Bible
So they said to him, "No, we will only tie you up and give you to them. We will not kill you." So they tied him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
New Revised Standard
They said to him, "No, we will only bind you and give you into their hands; we will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And they answered him, saying - Nay; but we will, bind, thee, and deliver thee into their hand, but we will not, put thee to death. So they bound him with two new ropes, and took him up from the crag.
Douay-Rheims Bible
They said: We will not kill thee: but we will deliver thee up bound. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him from the rock Etam.
Revised Standard Version
They said to him, "No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands; we will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So they said to him, "No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you." Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

Contextual Overview

9The Philistines set out and made camp in Judah, preparing to attack Lehi (Jawbone). When the men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?" they said, "We're out to get Samson. We're going after Samson to do to him what he did to us." 11 Three companies of men from Judah went down to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines already bully and lord it over us? So what's going on with you, making things even worse?" He said, "It was tit for tat. I only did to them what they did to me." 12 They said, "Well, we've come down here to tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines." Samson said, "Just promise not to hurt me." 13 "We promise," they said. "We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won't kill you." They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock. 14As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of God came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands. He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company. And Samson said, With a donkey's jawbone I made heaps of donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I killed an entire company. 17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Acts 21:33 - be

Cross-References

Genesis 15:1
After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"
Genesis 15:2
Abram said, " God , Master, what use are your gifts as long as I'm childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?" Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."
Genesis 15:6
And he believed! Believed God ! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."
Genesis 15:7
God continued, "I'm the same God who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own."
Genesis 15:8
Abram said, "Master God , how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"
Genesis 15:13
God said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder. But not you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death. Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites."
Exodus 1:11
So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn't stand the Israelites and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.
Exodus 22:21
"Don't abuse or take advantage of strangers; you, remember, were once strangers in Egypt.
Exodus 23:9
"Don't take advantage of a stranger. You know what it's like to be a stranger; you were strangers in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:19
You must treat foreigners with the same loving care— remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt. Reverently respect God , your God, serve him, hold tight to him, back up your promises with the authority of his name. He's your praise! He's your God! He did all these tremendous, these staggering things that you saw with your own eyes.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they spake unto him, saying, no,.... They declared they would not fall upon him themselves and slay him; nor would the Jews put Christ to death themselves, though they were virtually his betrayers and murderers, John 18:31

but we will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hands; as the Jews did Christ, and not only delivered him bound to the high priest, but also to the Roman governor, Matthew 27:2

but surely we will not kill thee: not with their own hands, but then they proposed to deliver him into the hands of the Philistines, from whence nothing but death could be expected; so that had they put him to death, they would have been accessory to it, as the Jews were to the death of Christ by delivering him to the Gentiles, and are charged with it, Acts 2:23.

and they bound him with two new cords; not with one only, lest it should not be sufficient to hold him, knowing his strength, but with two, and these not old worn out ones, but new ones just made, and very strong; and, as Joseph Kimchi, noted by Ben Melech, were trebled, or made of three cords or thongs, for greater security; and of flax, as the following verse intimates, and such are most firm and strongest to hold anything; hence nets were made of flax to hold creatures in, fish, fowl, or beasts i:

and brought him up from the rock; the place, as Kimchi says, where the men of Judah dwelt, being higher than the rock; though rather the true sense is, they brought him up out of the cave in the rock.

i Vid. Plin Nat. Hist. l. 19. 1.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 15:13. They bound him with two new cords — Probably his hands with one and his legs with the other.


 
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