Judges 15
1 Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.
And it cometh to pass, after [some] days, in the days of wheat-harvest, that Samson looketh after his wife, with a kid of the goats, and saith, 'I go in unto my wife, to the inner chamber;' and her father hath not permitted him to go in,
2 “I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
and her father saith, I certainly said, that thou didst certainly hate her, and I give her to thy companion; is not her sister — the young one — better than she? Let her be, I pray thee, to thee, instead of her.'
3 Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”
And Samson saith of them, 'I am more innocent this time than the Philistines, though I am doing with them evil.'
4 Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.
And Samson goeth and catcheth three hundred foxes, and taketh torches, and turneth tail unto tail, and putteth a torch between the two tails, in the midst,
5 Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
and kindleth fire in the torches, and sendeth [them] out into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burneth [it] from heap even unto standing corn, even unto vineyard — olive-yard.
6 “Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
And the Philistines say, 'Who hath done this?' And they say, 'Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken away his wife, and giveth her to his companion;' and the Philistines go up, and burn her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.”
And Samson saith to them, 'Though ye do thus, nevertheless I am avenged on you, and afterwards I cease!'
8 And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
And he smiteth them hip and thigh — a great smiting, and goeth down and dwelleth in the cleft of the rock Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi.
And the Philistines go up, and encamp in Judah, and are spread out in Lehi,
10 “Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.”
and the men of Judah say, 'Why have ye come up against us?' and they say, 'To bind Samson we have come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.'
11 In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.
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.'
12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
And they say to him, 'To bind thee we have come down — to give thee into the hand of the Philistines.' And Samson saith to them, 'Swear to me, lest ye fall upon me yourselves.'
13 “No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
And they speak to him, saying, No, but we certainly bind thee, and have given thee into their hand, and we certainly do not put thee to death;' and they bind him with two thick bands, new ones, and bring him up from the rock.
14 When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands.
He hath come unto Lehi — and the Philistines have shouted at meeting him — and the Spirit of Jehovah prospereth over him, and the thick bands which [are] on his arms are as flax which they burn with fire, and his bands are wasted from off his hands,
15 He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.
and he findeth a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, and putteth forth his hand and taketh it, and smiteth with it — a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
And Samson saith, 'With a jaw-bone of the ass — an ass upon asses — with a jaw-bone of the ass I have smitten a thousand men.'
17 And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.
And it cometh to pass when he finisheth speaking, that he casteth away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and calleth that place Ramath-Lehi;
18 And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
and he thirsteth exceedingly, and calleth unto Jehovah, and saith, 'Thou — Thou hast given by the hand of Thy servant this great salvation; and now, I die with thirst, and have fallen into the hand of the uncircumcised.'
19 So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.
And God cleaveth the hollow place which [is] in Lehi, and waters come out of it, and he drinketh, and his spirit cometh back, and he reviveth; therefore hath [one] called its name 'The fountain of him who is calling,' which [is] in Lehi unto this day.
20 And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
And he judgeth Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
