Judges 15
1 But within a while after, in the time of wheate haruest, Samson visited his wife with a kid, saying, I wil go in to my wife into the chamber: but her father would not suffer him to goe in.
Some time later when the wheat was being harvested, Samson went to pay his wife a visit, taking with him a young goat as a present. “I want to go to my wife in her bedroom,” he said when he arrived, but her father would not let him go in.
2 And her father sayde, I thought that thou hadst hated her: therefore gaue I her to thy companion. Is not her yonger sister fayrer then shee? take her, I pray thee, in stead of the other.
“I thought you must totally hate her, so I gave her to your best man,” he told Samson. “But her younger sister is even more attractive—why don't you marry her instead?”
3 Then Samson saide vnto them, Nowe am I more blamelesse then the Philistims: therefore will I doe them displeasure.
“This time I can't be blamed for the trouble I'm going to cause the Philistines,” Samson declared.
4 And Samson went out, and tooke three hundreth foxes, and tooke firebrands, and turned them taile to taile, and put a firebrand in ye middes betweene two tailes.
He went and caught three hundred foxes and tied their tails together, two by two.
5 And when he had set the brandes on fire, he sent them out into the standing corne of the Philistims, and burnt vp both the rickes and the standing corne with the vineyardes and oliues.
He attached a torch to each of the tied tails and set them on fire. Then he let them loose in the grain fields of the Philistines, setting fire to all the grain, harvested and unharvested, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
6 Then the Philistims sayde, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson the sonne in law of the Timnite, because hee had taken his wife, and giuen her to his companion. Then the Philistims came vp and burnt her and her father with fire.
“Who did this?” the Philistines asked. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah,” they were told. “That man gave Samson's wife to Samson's best man.” So the Philistines went and burned her and her father to death.
7 And Samson saide vnto them, Though yee haue done this, yet wil I be auenged of you, and then I wil cease.
Samson told them, “If this is the way you're going to act, then I won't stop until I take my revenge on you!”
8 So hee smote them hippe and thigh with a mightie plague: then hee went and dwelt in the top of the rocke Etam.
He attacked them violently, killing them, and then left to go and live in a cave at the rock of Etam.
9 Then the Philistims came vp, and pitched in Iudah, and were spred abroad in Lehi.
So the Philistine army came and camped in Judah, drawn up for battle near Lehi.
10 And the men of Iudah sayde, Why are yee come vp vnto vs? And they answered, To binde Samson are we come vp, and to do to him as hee hath done to vs.
The people of Judah asked, “Why have you invaded us?” “We've come to capture Samson, to do to him what he's done to us!” they replied.
11 Then three thousande men of Iudah went to the top of the rocke Etam, and sayde to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistims are rulers ouer vs? Wherefore then hast thou done thus vnto vs? And he answered them, As they did vnto me, so haue I done vnto them.
Three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam and asked Samson, “Don't you understand that the Philistines rule over us? What do you think you're doing to us?” “I only did what they did to me,” he replied.
12 Againe they sayd vnto him, Wee are come to binde thee, and to deliuer thee into the hande of the Philistims. And Samson sayde vnto them, Sweare vnto me, that yee will not fall vpon me your selues.
“Well, we've come to take you prisoner and hand you over to the Philistines,” they told him. “Just swear to me that you're not going to kill me yourselves,” Samson answered.
13 And they answered him, saying, No, but we will bynde thee and deliuer thee vnto their hande, but we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two newe cordes, and brought him from the rocke.
“No, we won't,” they assured him. “We'll only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines. We certainly aren't going to kill you!” They tied him using two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
14 When hee came to Lehi, the Philistims shouted against him, and the Spirite of the Lord came vpon him, and the cordes that were vpon his armes, became as flaxe that was burnt with fire: for the bandes loosed from his handes.
When Samson got close to Lehi, the Philistines ran towards him, shouting at him. But the Spirit of the Lord swept over him, and the ropes tying his arms together became as weak as burnt flax, and his hands broke free.
15 And he found a new iawebone of an asse, and put forth his hand, and caught it, and slewe a thousand men therewith.
He grabbed the fresh jawbone of a donkey, using it to kill a thousand Philistines.
16 Then Samson sayd, With the iaw of an asse are heapes vpon heapes: with the iawe of an asse haue I slaine a thousand men.
Then Samson declared, “With a donkey's jawbone I have piled the dead into heaps. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men.”
17 And when he had left speaking, hee cast away the iawebone out of his hande, and called that place, Ramath-Lehi.
After Samson had finished his speech, he threw away the jawbone, and he named the place Hill of the Jawbone.
18 And he was sore a thirst, and called on the Lord, and sayde, Thou hast giuen this great deliuerance into the hand of thy seruaunt: and nowe shall I dye for thirst, and fall into the handes of the vncircumcised?
He was now extremely thirsty, and he Samson called out to the Lord, saying, “You have achieved this amazing victory through your servant, but now do I have to die of thirst and be captured by the heathen?”
19 Then God brake the cheeke tooth, that was in the iawe, and water came thereout: and when he had drunke, his Spirit came againe, and he was reuiued: wherefore the name therof is called, Enhakkore, which is in Lehi vnto this day.
So God split open a rock seam in Lehi, and water came out of it. Samson drank and his strength returned—he felt much better. That's why he named it the Spring of the Caller, and it's still there in Lehi to this very day.
20 And hee iudged Israel in the dayes of the Philistims twentie yeeres.
Samson led Israel as judge for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.
