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The Book of Judges

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- Chapter 15 -

1
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
“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 them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”
4
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
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
“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
And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.”
8
And he struck them ruthlessly (a) with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
9
Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi.(b)
10
“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
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
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
“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 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
He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.
16
Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps.(c) With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
17
And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.(d)
18
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
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,(e) and it remains in Lehi to this day.
20
And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Footnotes

(a)15:8 Literally he struck them hip and thigh
(b)15:9 Literally and spread out in Lehi
(c)15:16 Or I have made them into donkeys
(d)15:17 Ramath-lehi means the hill of the jawbone.
(e)15:19 En-hakkore means the spring of him who calls.
1
But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He said, “I will go in to my wife’s room.” But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in.
2
Her father said, “I most certainly thought that you utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please, take her instead.”
3
Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines when I harm them.”
4
Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the middle between every two tails.
5
When he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the 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 burned her and her father with fire.
7
Samson said to them, “If you behave like this, surely I will take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.”
8
He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock.
9
Then the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in 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.”
11
Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in Etam’s rock, and said to Samson, “Don’t you 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 I have done to them.”
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 attack me yourselves.”
13
They spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you securely and deliver you into their hands; but surely we will not kill you.” They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then the LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire; and his bands dropped from off his hands.
15
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
16
Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.”
17
When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath Lehi.(a)
18
He was very thirsty, and called on the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
19
But God split the hollow place that is in 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.
20
He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Footnotes

(a)15:17 “Ramath” means “hill” and “Lehi” means “jawbone”.
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