Judges15

Samson, finding his wife given to another, retaliated by burning Philistine crops with foxes. In response, the Philistines burned his wife and her father, prompting Samson to inflict a great slaughter upon them. When the men of Judah delivered Samson to the Philistines, the Spirit of the LORD empowered him to slay a thousand men with an ass's jawbone, after which God miraculously provided water for his thirst.

Samson's Wife Given to Another

1
And it cometh to pass, after some days, in the days of wheat-harvest, that Samson looketh after his wife, with a kid of the goats, and saith, `I go in unto my wife, to the inner chamber;' and her father hath not permitted him to go in,
2
and her father saith, I certainly said, that thou didst certainly hate her, and I give her to thy companion; is not her sister--the young one--better than she? Let her be, I pray thee, to thee, instead of her.'
3
And Samson saith of them, `I am more innocent this time than the Philistines, though I am doing with them evil.'

Samson Burns the Philistine Harvest

4
And Samson goeth and catcheth three hundred foxes, and taketh torches, and turneth tail unto tail, and putteth a torch between the two tails, in the midst,
5
and kindleth fire in the torches, and sendeth them out into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burneth it from heap even unto standing corn, even unto vineyard--olive-yard.
6
And the Philistines say, `Who hath done this?' And they say, `Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken away his wife, and giveth her to his companion;' and the Philistines go up, and burn her and her father with fire.
7
And Samson saith to them, `Though ye do thus, nevertheless I am avenged on you, and afterwards I cease!'
8
And he smiteth them hip and thigh--a great smiting, and goeth down and dwelleth in the cleft of the rock Etam.

Judah Delivers Samson to the Philistines

9
And the Philistines go up, and encamp in Judah, and are spread out in Lehi,
10
and the men of Judah say, `Why have ye come up against us?' and they say, `To bind Samson we have come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.'
11
And three thousand men of Judah go down unto the cleft of the rock Etam, and say to Samson, `Hast thou now known that the Philistines are rulers over us? and what is this thou hast done to us?' And he saith to them, `As they did to me, so I did to them.'
12
And they say to him, `To bind thee we have come down--to give thee into the hand of the Philistines.' And Samson saith to them, `Swear to me, lest ye fall upon me yourselves.'
13
And they speak to him, saying, No, but we certainly bind thee, and have given thee into their hand, and we certainly do not put thee to death;' and they bind him with two thick bands, new ones, and bring him up from the rock.

Samson's Victory at Lehi

14
He hath come unto Lehi--and the Philistines have shouted at meeting him--and the Spirit of Jehovah prospereth over him, and the thick bands which are on his arms are as flax which they burn with fire, and his bands are wasted from off his hands,
15
and he findeth a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, and putteth forth his hand and taketh it, and smiteth with it--a thousand men.
16
And Samson saith, `With a jaw-bone of the ass--an ass upon asses--with a jaw-bone of the ass I have smitten a thousand men.'
17
And it cometh to pass when he finisheth speaking, that he casteth away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and calleth that place Ramath-Lehi;

God Provides Water for Samson

18
and he thirsteth exceedingly, and calleth unto Jehovah, and saith, `Thou--Thou hast given by the hand of Thy servant this great salvation; and now, I die with thirst, and have fallen into the hand of the uncircumcised.'
19
And God cleaveth the hollow place which is in Lehi, and waters come out of it, and he drinketh, and his spirit cometh back, and he reviveth; therefore hath one called its name `The fountain of him who is calling,' which is in Lehi unto this day.
20
And he judgeth Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
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