JUDGES 16:30 — KING JAMES VERSION 0 0
“And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.”
And Samson said: ``Let my soul die with the Philistines'' and he bowed with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it (וַיֹּאמֶר שִׁמְשׁוֹן תְּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי אֶת־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּים וַיִּשְׁמֹט אֶת־הָעַמֻּדִים בְּכׇל־כׇּחוֹ וַיִּפֹּל הַבַּיִת עַל־הַסַּרְנִים וְעַל־כׇּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־בִּשְׁלֹמוֹ) — Samson's final words articulate his intention: ``Let my soul die with the Philistines'' (תְּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי אֶת־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּים), an explicit choice of death over continued captivity. The phrase פּוֹל הַבַּיִת (the house falls) describes the catastrophic collapse. The victims listed are ``the lords and all the people who were in it'' (הַסַּרְנִים וְעַל־כׇּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־בִּשְׁלֹמוֹ)—the Philistine leadership and the 3,000 spectators. The narrative does not describe the moment of death with graphic detail, only reports the fact: the house falls, and thousands die. The deed accomplishes militarily what Samson's lifetime of raiding could not: a decisive blow against Philistine leadership, though at the cost of his own life.
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