< Judges 15 >
1 And it was from days in [the] days of [the] harvest of wheat and he visited Samson wife his with a kid of goats and he said let me go into wife my the chamber towards and not he permitted him father her to go.
Then, after some time, when the days of the wheat harvest were near, Samson arrived, intending to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid from the goats. And when he wanted to enter her bedroom, as usual, her father prohibited him, saying:
2 And he said father her certainly I thought that certainly you hated her and I gave her to companion your ¿ not [is] sister her young good more than her let her belong please to you in place of her.
“I thought that you would hate her, and therefore I gave her to your friend. But she has a sister, who is younger and more beautiful than she is. And she may be a wife for you, instead of her.”
3 And he said to them Samson I will be free this time from [the] Philistines for [am] about to do I with them harm.
And Samson answered him: “From this day, there shall be no guilt for me against the Philistines. For I will do harm to you all.”
4 And he went Samson and he captured three hundred foxes and he took torches and he turned tail to tail and he put a torch one between [the] two the tails in the middle.
And he went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he joined them tail to tail. And he tied torches between the tails.
5 And he kindled fire on the torches and he sent [them] among [the] standing grain of [the] Philistines and it burned up from [the] heap of sheaves and unto [the] standing grain and unto [the] vineyard of olive tree[s].
And setting these on fire, he released them, so that they might rush from place to place. And immediately they went into the grain fields of the Philistines, setting these on fire, both the grain that was already bound for carrying, and what was still standing on the stalk. These were completely burned up, so much so that the flame also consumed even the vineyards and the olive groves.
6 And they said [the] Philistines who? did he do this [thing] and they said Samson [the] son-in-law of the Timnite for he has taken wife his and he has given her to companion his and they went up [the] Philistines and they burned her and father her with fire.
And the Philistines said, “Who has done this thing?” And it was said: “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took away his wife, and gave her to another. He has done these things.” And the Philistines went up and burned the woman as well as her father.
7 And he said to them Samson if you will do! like this that except I have avenged myself on you and after I will cease.
And Samson said to them, “Even though you have done this, I will still fulfill vengeance against you, and then I will be quieted.”
8 And he struck them leg with thigh a defeat great and he went down and he dwelt in [the] cleft of [the] rock of Etam.
And he struck them with a tremendous slaughter, so much so that, out of astonishment, they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And descending, he lived in a cave of the rock at Etam.
9 And they went up [the] Philistines and they encamped in Judah and they were spread out at Lehi.
And so the Philistines, ascending into the land of Judah, made camp at the place which was later called Lehi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army spread out.
10 And they said [the] man of Judah why? have you come up on us and they said to bind Samson we have come up to do to him just as he did to us.
And some from the tribe of Judah said to them, “Why have you ascended against us?” And they responded, “We have come to bind Samson, and to repay him for what he has done to us.”
11 And they went down three thousand man from Judah to [the] cleft of [the] rock of Etam and they said to Samson ¿ not do you know that [are] ruling over us [the] Philistines and what? this have you done to us and he said to them just as they did to me so I have done to them.
Then three thousand men of Judah descended to the cave of the rock at Etam. And they said to Samson: “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why would you want to do this?” And he said to them, “As they have done to me, so I have done to them.”
12 And they said to him to bind you we have come down to give you in [the] hand of [the] Philistines and he said to them Samson swear to me lest you should fall! on me you.
And they said to him, “We have come to bind you, and to deliver you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear and promise to me that you will not kill me.”
13 And they said to him saying In-deed certainly we will bind you and we will give you in hand their and certainly not we will kill you and they bound him with two ropes new and they brought up him from the rock.
They said: “We will not kill you. But we will deliver you tied.” And they bound him with two new cords. And they took him from the rock at Etam.
14 He [was] coming to Lehi (and [the] Philistines *L(abh)*) they shouted to meet him and it rushed on him [the] spirit of Yahweh and they became the ropes which [were] on arms his like flax which people have burned with fire and they dropped off bonds his from on hands his.
And when he had arrived at the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines, shouting aloud, had met him, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. And just as flax is usually consumed by a hint of fire, so were the ties with which he was bound broken and released.
15 And he found a jawbone of a donkey fresh and he stretched out hand his and he took it and he struck down with it a thousand man.
And finding a jawbone which was laying there, that is, the jawbone of a donkey, snatching it up, he put to death a thousand men with it.
16 And he said Samson with [the] jawbone of the donkey a heap two heaps with [the] jawbone of the donkey I struck down a thousand man.
And he said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, with the jaw of the colt of a donkey, I have destroyed them, and I have struck down a thousand men.”
17 And it was when finished he to speak and he threw the jawbone from hand his and he called the place that Ramath Lehi.
And when he had completed these words, singing, he threw the jawbone from his hand. And called the name of that place Ramath-Lehi, which is translated as ‘the elevation of the jawbone.’
18 And he was thirsty very and he called out to Yahweh and he said you you have given by [the] hand of servant your the victory great this and now [must] I die with thirst and I fall in [the] hand of the uncircumcised [men]?
And being very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, and he said: “You have given, to the hand of your servant, this very great salvation and victory. But see that I am dying of thirst, and so I will fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.”
19 And he split open God the deep hollow which [is] at Lehi and they came out from it waters and he drank and it returned spirit his and he lived there-fore - he called name its En Hakkore which [is] at Lehi until the day this.
And so the Lord opened a large tooth in the jawbone of the donkey, and water went out from it. And having drank it, his spirit was revived, and he recovered his strength. For this reason, the name of that place was called ‘the Spring called forth from the jawbone,’ even to the present day.
20 And he judged Israel in [the] days of [the] Philistines twenty year[s].
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, for twenty years.