Judges 15:7

Jdg 15:7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

Ver. 7. Though ye have done this, yet, &c.] Here he protesteth that he was no way satisfied with, what they had done to his wife and her father; because not in a way of justice, but out of rage and fury for the loss of their grain. He would further have his pennyworths of them as a public person set up by God for the purpose to take vengeance upon an ungodly nation. "And after that," saith he, "I will cease," viz., till next time: and till I see good to begin again. Tremelius rendereth it, Siccine facturi estis? Is this your manner of dealing? q.d., You would surely serve me in like sort if I were in your hands: but I will be on the bones of you shortly. They are an angry man’s words, and therefore short and cutted.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Samson said . . ., Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you--By that act the husbandmen had been the instruments in avenging his private and personal wrongs. But as a judge, divinely appointed to deliver Israel, his work of retribution was not yet accomplished.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(7) Though ye have done this.—The rendering of these words is involved in the same obscurity as other details of the narrative. They may mean, “If ye act thus, then will I be avenged on you before I have done;” and perhaps the verse implies, “as long as you avenge yourselves, I mean to retaliate.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Samson said unto them,.... After they had burnt his wife and her father in their dwelling house, by which they thought to appease him, being afraid of him:

though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you; not for burning his wife and father-in-law; his sense is, that though they had done this, in order to ingratiate themselves with him, yet he should not stop on this account, but be avenged on them, not for private injuries done to him, or any that had been in connection with him, but for public injuries done to Israel, and their oppression of them:

and after that I will cease; when he had taken full vengeance on them, and not before.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Of you. He intimates that they should answer for the injustice which they ought to have prevented, or punished sooner. (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "If you had done like this," and slain the father and daughter, I should be quiet. (Du Hamel)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whereby it appears, that it was not his private injuries, but the public, which he did revenge.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And Samson said, etc. There are two ways of understanding Samson"s speech: one, with the A.V, as meaning to say that though the Philistines had taken his part, and repudiated all fellowship in the shameful deed of the Thimnathite and her father, yet he would have his full revenge upon them; the other, translating the particle in its more common sense of if, makes him say, "If this is the way you treat me, be sure I will not cease till I have had my full revenge." This is perhaps on the whole the most probable meaning. It still leaves it uncertain whether the Philistines meant to do Samson justice, or to do him an additional injury, by putting his wife and her father to death.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Samson therefore declared to them, "If ye do such things, truly (כּי) when I have avenged myself upon you, then will I cease," i.e., I will not cease till I have taken vengeance upon you.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

said to them

"said to the Philistines"

If this is what you do

"Because you have done this."

he cut them to pieces, hip and thigh

Here "hip and thigh" refers to the whole body. This is a graphic description of how Samson killed the Philistines. AT: "He cut their bodies to pieces" (See: Synecdoche)

he went down

Here the phrase "went down" does not likely mean that he changed elevation, but rather, it is a way to describe someone going to another place. AT: "he went" (See: Idiom)

cave

an opening in a hill or mountainside

cliff

a high, rocky hill or mountainside

Etam

This is the name of the rocky hill country near Jerusalem. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

Samson

avenge

slaughter

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Is this the way you behave. Perhaps you are accustomed to this—shifting wives from one to another.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.