Judges 15
1 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a young goat; and he said, "I will go in to my wife into the room." But her father wouldn't allow him to go in.
Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.
2 Her father said, "I most certainly thought that you had utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn't her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Please take her, instead."
“I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
3 Samson said to him, "This time I will be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I harm them."
Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”
4 Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between every two tails.
Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.
5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
6 Then the Philistines said, "Who has done this?" They said, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to his companion." The Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father's house with fire.
“Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
7 Samson said to them, "Because you did this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease."
And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.”
8 He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up, and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.
Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi.
10 The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" They said, "We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us."
“Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.”
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" He said to them, "As they did to me, so have I done to them."
In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.
12 They said to him, "We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not fall on me yourselves."
But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
13 They spoke to him, saying, "No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand; but surely we will not kill you." They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
“No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of YHWH rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.
When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands.
15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and reached down and took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.
16 Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men."
Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
17 It happened, when he had finished speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath Lehi.
And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.
18 He was very thirsty, and called on YHWH, and said, "You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"
And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
19 And God split the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day.
So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.
20 He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
