Judges 15:9

9 And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

Judges 15:9 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:9

Then the Philistines went up
From Palestine, which lay low on the shore of the Mediterranean sea:

and pitched in Judah;
in the laud of Judea, which lay higher, particularly in the tribe of Judah, whither they came with an army, and encamped there:

and spread themselves in Lehi;
their forces were so many, that they extended a considerable way, and particularly reached to Lehi, that is, which was afterwards so called; for it has its name by anticipation from the jaw bone, which it signifies, with which Samson slew many in this place, as after related.

Judges 15:9 In-Context

7 And Samson said to them, If ye act thus, for a certainty I will avenge myself on you, and then I will cease.
8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the cliff Etam.
9 And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they said, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he has done to us.
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the cliff Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? And what is this that thou hast done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.