Judges 15:18He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh, and said, "You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"
The setting
Same battlefield, now quiet. Samson's adrenaline fades and dehydration hits. His throat burns, his lips crack. Death feels closer than victory...
The emotion here: desperately thirsty and genuinely afraid he might die after his greatest victory
The original word
tsame (צָמֵא) — violently thirsty, parched to the point of death
Why it matters
Ancient warfare often led to severe dehydration - warriors could die of thirst after winning
Read with care
What most readers miss in Judges 15:18
He calls himself God's 'servant' - even in crisis, he knows who gave him the victory
Common misconceptionPeople think this shows God abandoning Samson, but it's actually Samson learning that victory without God's sustained presence is hollow.
The thread continues
Verses that echo Judges 15:18
Bible Genome reading
Judges 15:18 — Bible Genome reading
Emotional genome
Judges 15:18 comes from the book of Judges, written during the judges period. The setting is the battlefield. These words are attributed to Samson. The dominant emotion in this verse is seeking, with a comfort power of 70% and a tone that is urgent. It belongs to the prayer genre of biblical literature. Key themes include human need, divine dependence. Notable phrases: very thirsty; great deliverance. This verse is a prayer.
Emotionally similar
Verses that meet the same seeking
“Pray without ceasing.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:17
“But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
— Amos 5:24
“Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that …”
— Genesis 18:25
“Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don't know.”
— Jeremiah 33:3
“Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evi…”
— Luke 11:4
Your reflection
What does Judges 15:18 mean to you, today?
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