Verse Lens · Expanded explanation

Judges 15:19 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 19. But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse credits God with water, revival, and the spring name En-hakkore.

The Spirit parts the cords at Lehi

This verse is one part of that explanation in Judges 15:14–20. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.

Read It With

  • Judges 15:14–20

Read Judges 15:14–20 together. This verse credits God with water, revival, and the spring name En-hakkore. Philistine shouting, Spirit rush, broken cords, jawbone weapon, thousand-person slaughter, victory saying and naming, desperate thirst, prayer, divine water, revival, and twenty-year judgeship complete the Lehi episode and chapter.

Why This Verse Appears Here

The scene joins genuine deliverance power to excessive lethal scale, boast, bodily dependence, and incomplete political change. Within that movement, credits God with water, revival, and the spring name En-hakkore.

Read Judges 15:14–20 together

Why these verses belong together: Philistine shouting, Spirit rush, broken cords, jawbone weapon, thousand-person slaughter, victory saying and naming, desperate thirst, prayer, divine water, revival, and twenty-year judgeship complete the Lehi episode and chapter.

Verse 14. And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

Verse 15. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

Verse 16. And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

Verse 17. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi.

Verse 18. And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

Verse 19. But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

Verse 20. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Follow the Context

  1. Spirit-given strength breaks the restraints as Philistines approach.
  2. Samson uses an improvised jawbone for mass killing and voices a punning victory song.
  3. Severe thirst drives a dependent prayer; God provides water, and the notice records twenty years of judging under continuing Philistine conditions.

Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation

“But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout…”

In plain language: credits God with water, revival, and the spring name En-hakkore

As Samson reaches Lehi, the Spirit rushes on him and his cords fall apart. With a fresh donkey jawbone he kills a thousand Philistines and celebrates the feat in wordplay. He then becomes desperately thirsty, calls on God not to let him die and fall into uncircumcised hands, receives water from a split hollow, revives, and judges Israel twenty years during Philistine rule. Within that movement, this wording credits God with water, revival, and the spring name En-hakkore.

Why it matters: This wording carries a material narrative, textual, historical, violence, vulnerable-person, land, leadership, or misuse boundary.

How certain? probable

What This Verse Is Not Saying

Judges 15:19 does not stand alone from 15:14–20. Spirit empowerment does not make mass killing a modern religious model. Its verse-specific role is: credits God with water, revival, and the spring name En-hakkore.

What Remains True

Credits God with water, revival, and the spring name En-hakkore. Exceptional ability remains dependent, and success should lead to truthful gratitude and restraint rather than self-magnification.

Teach It Back

Explain Judges 15:19's precise role in Judges 15:14–20. Include the scene's ancient covenant setting, one material uncertainty, the affected people, and one conclusion or violent imitation the context does not authorize.

Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.

Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read Judges 15:14–20 — The Spirit breaks the cords, and thirst checks triumph
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

Interpretations range from heroic celebration to antiheroic parody. The juxtaposition of feat, boast, thirst, prayer, and incomplete rule supports a deliberately complex portrait.

The thousand figure, poem's syntax, water location, and relation between Spirit empowerment and moral evaluation are debated. The text clearly makes Samson dependent on divine provision immediately after his boast.

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: Judges 15:14–20, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Judges

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clause relationships, repeated terms, wordplays, and translation control.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Judg.xml, 15:14–20

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: Judges with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, poetic, geographical, social, and uncertainty notes.

Exact location: NET Bible Judges PDF, printed pp. 478-479, translation and notes on 15:14–20

Open source ↗
Open the complete thought-unit research record
Open a verse without taking it out of context.

Try Judges 2:18, Judg 2:18, or Jdg 2:18.

Choose book, chapter, and verse