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 some time, in the time of wheat-harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, Let me go in to my wife into the chamber; but her father would 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 said, I verily thought that thou didst utterly hate her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? Let her be thine, I pray thee, 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 Samson said to them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them evil.
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 Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put one torch between two tails in the midst;
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 the torches on fire, and let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both shocks and standing corn, as also olive-yards.
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.
Then said the Philistines, Who hath done this! And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Thimnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines went up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson says to them, “Though you do thus, nevertheless I am avenged on you, and afterward I cease!”
And Samson said unto them, Since ye will do the like of this, I will surely be avenged on you, and after that will I 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 smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and tarried in the cleft 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 Judah, and spread themselves 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 Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath 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.”
Thereupon went three thousand men of Judah down to the cleft of the rock 'Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? and what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto 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 unto him, To bind thee are we come down, to deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not assail 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 said unto him, thus, No; for we will [only] bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand; but we will in no-wise kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the 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,
When he was come unto Lechi, the Philistines shouted against him; but the Spirit of the Lord came suddenly over him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax threads that are burnt with fire, and his bands melted 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 a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote therewith 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 Samson said, With a jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw-bone of an ass have I smitten 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 had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lechi.
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 became very thirsty, and he called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast granted through the hand of thy servant this great deliverance; and now 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.
But God clave a hollow place that was at Lechi, and there came forth water out of it; and he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived; wherefore he called the name thereof 'En-hakkore, which is in Lechi unto 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.
