Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Judges 15:4 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 4. 4And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands.
Read It With
- Judges 15:1–8
Read Judges 15:1–8 together. This verse describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands. Samson's attempted visit, the father's refusal and sister offer, fox-or-jackal fire attack, Philistine inquiry, burning of the bride and father, Samson's retaliation, and retreat to Etam form one escalation cycle; verse 9 begins the Philistine response in Judah.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The episode makes women, animals, food security, and households bear the cost of men's property claims and retaliatory logic. Within that movement, describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands.
Read Judges 15:1–8 together
Why these verses belong together: Samson's attempted visit, the father's refusal and sister offer, fox-or-jackal fire attack, Philistine inquiry, burning of the bride and father, Samson's retaliation, and retreat to Etam form one escalation cycle; verse 9 begins the Philistine response in Judah.
Verse 1. 1 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.
Verse 2. 2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
Verse 3. 3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
Verse 4. 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
Verse 5. 5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
Verse 6. 6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
Verse 7. 7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
Verse 8. 8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
Follow the Context
- The failed marriage arrangement is treated through paternal transfer and a proposed substitute sister rather than either woman's consent.
- Samson weaponizes animals and fire to destroy grain, vineyards, and olives.
- Philistines burn the bride and father; Samson retaliates again and retreats.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail…”
In plain language: describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands
Samson returns with a gift expecting access to his wife, but her father says she was given to his companion and offers her younger sister. Samson captures three hundred foxes or jackals, ties firebrands between tails, and burns Philistine crops. Learning why, Philistines burn the woman and her father. Samson announces vengeance, strikes many, and withdraws to Etam. Within that movement, this wording describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands.
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 15:4 does not stand alone from 15:1–8. Judges 15:4 does not establish a timeless command, ethnic judgment, or moral approval of every narrated action by itself. Its verse-specific role is: describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands.
What Remains True
Describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands. Retaliation expands beyond the original grievance and predictably strikes vulnerable people, livelihoods, and noncombatants.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 15:4 describes capture and pairing of three hundred foxes or jackals with firebrands, interrupt revenge cycles with protection, mediation, and restitution that includes every person affected rather than treating them as assets.
Teach It Back
Explain Judges 15:4's precise role in Judges 15:1–8. 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 15:1–8 — Marriage grievance escalates through fields and fireSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Questions about marriage status and Samson's claim affect legal reconstruction, but not the scene's clear escalation and harm to people without meaningful control.
The animal species, feasibility of the tactic, idiom in verse 8, and legal assumptions around the marriage are debated. Ethical reading should not depend on solving the logistics.
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 15:1–8, 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, 15:1–8
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 15:1–8
Open source ↗