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,
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 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.”
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 And Samson says of them, “I am more innocent this time than the Philistines, though I am doing evil with them.”
Samson said to them, “This time I will be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I hurt 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,
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 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.
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 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.
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 says to them, “Though you do thus, nevertheless I am avenged on you, and afterward I cease!”
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 strikes them hip and thigh [with] a great striking, and goes down and dwells in the cleft of the rock of 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 And the Philistines go up, and encamp in Judah, and are spread out in 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 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.”
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 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.”
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 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.”
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 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.
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 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 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 he finds a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and puts forth his hand and takes it, and strikes down one 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 says, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heap on heaps—I have struck down one thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey!”
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 it comes to pass, when he finishes speaking, that he casts away the jawbone out of his hand, and calls that place Ramath-Lehi;
When Samson finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone, and he called the place Ramath Lehi.
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.”
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 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.
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 judges Israel in the days of the Philistines [for] twenty years.
Samson judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.
