Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Judges 15:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days.
Read It With
- Judges 15:14–20
Read Judges 15:14–20 together. This verse closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days. 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, closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
Follow the Context
- Spirit-given strength breaks the restraints as Philistines approach.
- Samson uses an improvised jawbone for mass killing and voices a punning victory song.
- 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
“And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years”
In plain language: closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days
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 closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material narrative, textual, historical, violence, vulnerable-person, land, leadership, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Judges 15:20 does not stand alone from 15:14–20. Philistine identity cannot be mapped onto any present population. Its verse-specific role is: closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days.
What Remains True
Closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days. Exceptional ability remains dependent, and success should lead to truthful gratitude and restraint rather than self-magnification.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 15:20 closes with twenty years of judging during continuing Philistine days, after a high-stakes success, account for human cost, credit help accurately, and address bodily and emotional limits before making new claims.
Teach It Back
Explain Judges 15:20'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.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Judges 15:14–20 — The Spirit breaks the cords, and thirst checks triumphSources 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 ↗