Judges 15
1 And it comes to pass after [some] days, in the days of wheat-harvest, that Samson looks after his wife, with a kid of the goats, and says, “I go in to my wife, to the inner chamber”; and her father has not permitted him to go in,
And it came to pass after a time, in the days of wheat harvest, that Sampson visited his wife with a kid, and said, I will go in to my wife even into the chamber: but her father did not suffer him to go in.
2 and her father says, “I certainly said that you surely hated her, and I give her to your companion; is her younger sister not better than she? Please let her be to you instead of her.”
And her father spoke, saying, I said that you did surely hate her, and I gave her to one of your friends: [is] not her younger sister better than she? let her be to you instead of her.
3 And Samson says of them, “I am more innocent this time than the Philistines, though I am doing evil with them.”
And Sampson said to them, Even for once am I guiltless with regard to the Philistines, in that I do mischief among them.
4 And Samson goes and catches three hundred foxes, and takes torches, and turns tail to tail, and puts a torch between the two tails, in the midst,
And Sampson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch between two tails, and fastened it.
5 and kindles fire in the torches, and sends [them] out into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burns [it] from heap even to standing grain, even to vineyard [and] olive-yard.
And he set fire to the torches, and sent [the foxes] into the corn of the Philistines; and every thing was burnt from the threshing floor to the standing corn, and even to the vineyard and olives.
6 And the Philistines say, “Who has done this?” And they say, “Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken away his wife, and gives her to his companion”; and the Philistines go up, and burn her and her father with fire.
And the Philistines said, Who [has done] these things? and they said, Sampson the son-in-law of the Thamnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to one of his friends; and the Philistines went up, and burnt her and her father's house with fire.
7 And Samson says to them, “Though you do thus, nevertheless I am avenged on you, and afterward I cease!”
And Sampson said to them, Though you may have dealt thus with her, verily I will be avenged of you, and afterwards I will cease.
8 And he strikes them hip and thigh [with] a great striking, and goes down and dwells in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
And he struck them leg on thigh [with] a great overthrow; and went down and lived in a cave of the rock Etam.
9 And the Philistines go up, and encamp in Judah, and are spread out in Lehi,
And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Juda, and spread themselves abroad in Lechi.
10 and the men of Judah say, “Why have you come up against us?” And they say, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”
And the men of Juda said, Why are you come up against us? and the Philistines said, We are come up to bind Sampson, and to do to him as he has done to us.
11 And three thousand men of Judah go down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and say to Samson, “Have you now known that the Philistines are rulers over us? And what [is] this you have done to us?” And he says to them, “As they did to me, so I did to them.”
And the three thousand men of Juda went down to the hole of the rock Etam, and they said to Sampson, Know you not that the Philistines rule over us? and what [is] this [that] you have done to us? and Sampson said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.
12 And they say to him, “We have come down to bind you—to give you into the hand of the Philistines.” And Samson says to them, “Swear to me, lest you fall on me yourselves.”
And they said to him, We are come down to bind you to deliver you into the hand of the Philistines: and Sampson said to them, Swear to me that you will not fall upon me yourselves.
13 And they speak to him, saying, “No, but we certainly bind you, and have given you into their hand, and we certainly do not put you to death”; and they bind him with two thick bands, new ones, and bring him up from the rock.
And they spoke to him, saying, Nay, but we will only bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand, and will by no means kill you: and they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him from that rock.
14 He has come to Lehi—and the Philistines have shouted at meeting him—and the Spirit of YHWH prospers over him, and the thick bands which [are] on his arms are as flax which they burn with fire, and his bands are melted from off his hands,
And they came to Lechi: and the Philistines shouted, and ran to meet him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as tow which is burnt with fire; and his bonds were consumed from off his hands.
15 and he finds a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and puts forth his hand and takes it, and strikes down one thousand men with it.
And he found the jaw-bone of an ass that had been cast away, and he put forth his hand and took it, and struck with it a thousand men.
16 And Samson says, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heap on heaps—I have struck down one thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey!”
And Sampson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass I have utterly destroyed them, for with the jaw-bone of an ass I have struck a thousand men.
17 And it comes to pass, when he finishes speaking, that he casts away the jawbone out of his hand, and calls that place Ramath-Lehi;
And it came to pass when he ceased speaking, that he cast the jaw-bone out of his hand; and he called that place the Lifting of the jaw-bone.
18 and he thirsts exceedingly, and calls to YHWH, and says, “You have given this great salvation by the hand of Your servant; and now, I die with thirst, and have fallen into the hand of the uncircumcised.”
And he was very thirsty, and wept before the Lord, and said, You have been well pleased to grant this great deliverance by the hand of your servant, and new shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 And God cleaves the hollow place which [is] in Lehi, and waters come out of it, and he drinks, and his spirit comes back, and he revives; therefore [one] has called its name “The fountain of him who is calling,” which [is] in Lehi to this day.
And God broke open a hollow place in the jaw, and there came thence water, and he drank; and his spirit returned and he revived: therefore the name of the fountain was called 'The well of the invoker,' which is in Lechi, until this day.
20 And he judges Israel in the days of the Philistines [for] twenty years.
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
