Judges 15
1 Then, after some time, when the days of the wheat harvest were near, Samson arrived, intending to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid from the goats. And when he wanted to enter her bedroom, as usual, her father prohibited him, saying:
But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 “I thought that you would hate her, and therefore I gave her to your friend. But she has a sister, who is younger and more beautiful than she is. And she may be a wife for you, instead of her.”
And her father said, I verily thought that you had utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray you, instead of her.
3 And Samson answered him: “From this day, there shall be no guilt for me against the Philistines. For I will do harm to you all.”
And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
4 And he went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he joined them tail to tail. And he tied torches between the tails.
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
5 And setting these on fire, he released them, so that they might rush from place to place. And immediately they went into the grain fields of the Philistines, setting these on fire, both the grain that was already bound for carrying, and what was still standing on the stalk. These were completely burned up, so much so that the flame also consumed even the vineyards and the olive groves.
And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
6 And the Philistines said, “Who has done this thing?” And it was said: “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took away his wife, and gave her to another. He has done these things.” And the Philistines went up and burned the woman as well as her father.
Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson said to them, “Even though you have done this, I will still fulfill vengeance against you, and then I will be quieted.”
And Samson said unto them, Though all of you have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
8 And he struck them with a tremendous slaughter, so much so that, out of astonishment, they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And descending, he lived in a cave of the rock at Etam.
And he stroke them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 And so the Philistines, ascending into the land of Judah, made camp at the place which was later called Lehi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army spread out.
Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 And some from the tribe of Judah said to them, “Why have you ascended against us?” And they responded, “We have come to bind Samson, and to repay him for what he has done to us.”
And the men of Judah said, Why are all of you come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he has done to us.
11 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.”
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 unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
12 And they said to him, “We have come to bind you, and to deliver you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear and promise to me that you will not kill me.”
And they said unto him, We are come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that all of you will not fall upon me yourselves.
13 They said: “We will not kill you. But we will deliver you tied.” And they bound him with two new cords. And they took him from the rock at Etam.
And they spoke unto him, saying, No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand: but surely we will not kill you. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
14 And when he had arrived at the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines, shouting aloud, had met him, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. And just as flax is usually consumed by a hint of fire, so were the ties with which he was bound broken and released.
And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
15 And finding a jawbone which was laying there, that is, the jawbone of a donkey, snatching it up, he put to death a thousand men with it.
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
16 And he said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, with the jaw of the colt of a donkey, I have destroyed them, and I have struck down a thousand men.”
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 And when he had completed these words, singing, he threw the jawbone from his hand. And called the name of that place Ramath-Lehi, which is translated as ‘the elevation of the jawbone.’
And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
18 And being very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, and he said: “You have given, to the hand of your servant, this very great salvation and victory. But see that I am dying of thirst, and so I will fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.”
And he was sore thirsty, and called on the LORD, and said, You have given this great deliverance into the hand of your servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 And so the Lord opened a large tooth in the jawbone of the donkey, and water went out from it. And having drank it, his spirit was revived, and he recovered his strength. For this reason, the name of that place was called ‘the Spring called forth from the jawbone,’ even to the present day.
But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water from it; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
20 And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, for twenty years.
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
