⁷ Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will not stop until I have taken revenge on you.”

¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God,^[a] for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”^(A)

¹⁹ Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.^(A)

⁴ His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.^(A)