¹⁰ So the men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?”

They replied, “We have come to tie Samson up and pay him back for what he did to us.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule us?^(A) What have you done to us?”

“I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.^[a]

¹² They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

¹³ “No,” they said,^[b] “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes^(B) and led him away from the rock.

²⁰ So now, whenever the king wants to come down, let him come down. As for us, we will be glad to hand him over to the king.”^(A)