Judges 14:3Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there never a woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?" Samson said to his father, "Get her for me; for she pleases me well."
The setting
Zorah, Israel, ~1100 BC. Samson's parents confront him about his choice to marry a Philistine woman from Timnah, modern-day Palestine/Israel border region.
The emotion here: desperate parental concern mixed with cultural shame
The original word
arel (עָרֵל) — uncircumcised, ceremonially unclean, outside God's covenant
Why it matters
Philistines were one of the few ancient peoples who didn't practice circumcision
Read with care
What most readers miss in Judges 14:3
This isn't just racism — it's covenant faithfulness in a theocracy
Common misconceptionPeople think this is just prejudice, but in Israel's theocracy, intermarriage often meant abandoning God for pagan worship — it was spiritual suicide.
The thread continues
Verses that echo Judges 14:3
Bible Genome reading
Judges 14:3 — Bible Genome reading
Emotional genome
Judges 14:3 comes from the book of Judges, written during the judges period. These words are attributed to parents. The dominant emotion in this verse is anxious, with a comfort power of 20% and a tone that is urgent. It belongs to the dialogue genre of biblical literature. Key themes include parental concern, covenant faithfulness. Notable phrases: Is there never a woman.
Emotionally similar
Verses that meet the same anxious
“And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.”
— 2 Corinthians 11:14
“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”
— 2 Timothy 3:12
“The evil spirit answered, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?"”
— Acts 19:15
“I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'”
— Acts 22:7
“When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is har…”
— Acts 26:14
Your reflection
What does Judges 14:3 mean to you, today?
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