Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

Wherefore three thousand men of Juda, went down to the cave of the rock Etam, and said to Samson: Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? Why wouldst thou do thus? And he said to them: As they did to me, so have I done to them.

Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, |Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?| And he said to them, |As they did to me, so have I done to them.|

And three thousand men of Judah go down unto the cleft of the rock Etam, and say to Samson, 'Hast thou now known that the Philistines are rulers over us? and what is this thou hast done to us?' And he saith to them, 'As they did to me, so I did to them.'

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Know you not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that you have done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.

Then three thousand of the men of Judah went down to the crack of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Is it not clear to you that the Philistines are our rulers? What is this you have done to us? And he said to them, I only did to them as they did to me.

Then three thousand men of Judah descended to the cave of the rock at Etam. And they said to Samson: "Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why would you want to do this?" And he said to them, "As they have done to me, so I have done to them."

The dispirited men of Judah were prepared to give up their champion, in order to conciliate their masters. This shows how hard was the task of the Judge, whose office it was to restore his countrymen to freedom and independence.

Three thousand men of Judah went - It appears evidently from this that Samson was strongly posted, and they thought that no less than three thousand men were necessary to reduce him.

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines [are] rulers over us? (g) what [is] this [that] thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
(g) Such was their gross ignorance, that they judged God's great benefits to be a plague to them.

Then three thousand of Judah went up to the top of the rock of Etam,.... Or "went down" (g); that is, into the cave of the rock of Etam, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and so it is taken by David de Pomis (h) for a cave dug in the rock: this was a large number that went to take one man; the reason is, they knew his great strength:
and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? and therefore it must be a very unwise thing to disoblige and provoke them, when it lay in their power to oppress them yet more and more, to increase their tribute, and make their burdens heavier, and even take away their lives:
what is this that thou hast done unto us? they ask not what he had done to them, but unto us; though they mean that, but express themselves thus, because what he had done to the Philistines was the occasion of their coming up against them, and so eventually it was doing them ill:
and he said unto them, as they did unto me, so have I done to them; they had done him ill, and therefore he did ill to them; they had burnt his wife and her father with fire, and he had slain many of them; at least this was what he thought fit to say in his own vindication; otherwise what he did was not in a way of private revenge, but on account of the injury done to the people of Israel, he taking what was done to them as done to himself, the chief magistrate and judge of Israel.
(g) "et descenderunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "descenderunt ergo", V. L. Tigurine version. (h) Tzemach David, fol. 112. 3.

Unto us - Thou hast by these actions punished not them only, but us, who are sure to smart for it.