Judges 15

1But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

2And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.footnote a

3And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.footnote b

4And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.footnote c

5And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

6Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

7And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

8And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

9Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

10And 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.

11Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? 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.footnote d

12And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

13And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

14And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.footnote e

15And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.footnote f

16And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.footnote g

17And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi.footnote h

18And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

19But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.footnote ifootnote j

20And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Samson’s Revenge

1Later 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.”

3Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”

4Then 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. 5Then 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.

7And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.” 8And he struck them ruthlesslyfootnote a with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

9Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi.footnote 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.”

11In 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.

12But 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.

14When 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. 15He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men. 16Then Samson said:“With the jawbone of a donkeyI have piled them into heaps.footnote cWith the jawbone of a donkeyI have slain a thousand men.”

17And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.footnote d

18And 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?”

19So 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,footnote e and it remains in Lehi to this day.

20And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.