Judges 15
1 Now a short time after, at the time of the grain-cutting, Samson, taking with him a young goat, went to see his wife; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the bride's room. But her father would not let him go in.
After some days, during the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said to himself, “I will go to my wife's room.” But her father would not allow him to go in.
2 And her father said, It seemed to me that you had only hate for her; so I gave her to your friend: but is not her younger sister fairer than she? so please take her in place of the other.
Her father said, “I really thought you hated her, so I gave her to your friend. Her younger sister is more beautiful than she is, is she not? Take her instead.”
3 Then Samson said to them, This time I will give payment in full to the Philistines, for I am going to do them great evil.
Samson said to them, “This time I will be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I hurt them.”
4 So Samson went and got three hundred foxes and some sticks of fire-wood; and he put the foxes tail to tail with a stick between every two tails;
Samson went and caught three hundred foxes and he tied together each pair, tail to tail. Then he took torches and tied them in the middle of each pair of tails.
5 Then firing the sticks, he let the foxes loose among the uncut grain of the Philistines, and all the corded stems as well as the living grain and the vine-gardens and the olives went up in flames.
When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and they set fire to both the stacked grain and the grain standing in the field, along with the vineyards and the olive orchards.
6 Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his friend. So the Philistines came up and had her and her father's house burned.
The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, did this because the Timnite took Samson's wife and gave her to his friend.” Then the Philistines went and burned up her and her father.
7 And Samson said to them, If you go on like this, truly I will take my full payment from you; and that will be the end of it.
Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I will get my revenge against you, and after that is done, I will stop.”
8 And he made an attack on them, driving them in uncontrolled flight, and causing great destruction; then he went away to his safe place in the crack of the rock at Etam.
Then he cut them to pieces, hip and thigh, with a great slaughter. Then he went down and lived in a cave in the cliff of Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went and put up their tents in Judah, all round Lehi.
Then the Philistines came up and they prepared for battle in Judah and set up their army in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why have you come up against us? And they said, We have come up to take Samson, and to do to him as he has done to us.
The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up to attack us?” They said, “We are attacking so we may capture Samson, and do to him as he has done to us.”
11 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 went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam, and they said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this you have done to us?” Samson said to them, “They did to me, and so I have done to them.”
12 Then they said to him, We have come down to take you and give you up into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Give me your oath that you will not make an attack on me yourselves.
They said to Samson, “We have come down to tie you up and give you into the hands of the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
13 And they said, No; we will take you and give you up into their hands, but truly we will not put you to death. So knotting two new cords round him they took him up from the rock.
They said to him, “No, we will only tie you with ropes and hand you over to them. We promise we will not kill you.” Then they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
14 And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines came out, meeting him with loud cries; then the spirit of the Lord came rushing on him, and the cords on his arms became like grass which has been burned with fire, and the bands came falling off his hands.
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting as they met him. Then Yahweh's Spirit came on him with power. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and they fell off his hands.
15 And taking up the mouth-bone of an ass newly dead, which he saw by chance on the earth, he put to death a thousand men with it.
Samson found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and he picked it up and killed a thousand men with it.
16 And Samson said, With a red ass's mouth-bone I have made them red with blood, with a red ass's mouth-bone I have sent destruction on a thousand men.
Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men.”
17 And having said these words, he let the mouth-bone go out of his hand; so that place was named Ramath-lehi.
When Samson finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone, and he called the place Ramath Lehi.
18 After this, he was in great need of water, and crying out to the Lord, he said, You have given this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and now need of water will be my death; and I will be given into the hands of this people who are without circumcision.
Samson was very thirsty and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great victory to your servant. But now will I die of thirst and fall into the hands of those who are uncircumcised?”
19 Then God made a crack in the hollow rock in Lehi and water came out of it; and after drinking, his spirit came back to him and he was strong again; so that place was named En-hakkore; it is in Lehi to this day.
God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi and water came out. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived. So he called the name of that place En Hakkore, and it is at Lehi to this day.
20 And he was judge of Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.
Samson judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.
