But after a while
, in the time
of wheat
harvest
, Samson
visited
his wife
awith a young
goat
, and said
, "I will go
in to my wife
in her room
." But her father
did not let
him enter
.
Her father said
, "I really
thought
that you hated
her intensely
; so I agave
her to your companion
. Is not her younger
sister
1more
beautiful
than
she? Please
let her be yours 2instead
."
Samson then said
to them, "This
time
I shall be blameless
in regard
to the Philistines
when
I do
them harm
."
Samson went
and caught
three
hundred
foxes
, and took
torches
, and turned
the foxes tail
to tail
and put
one
torch
in the middle
between
two
tails
.
When he had set fire
to the torches
, he released
1the foxes into the standing
grain
of the Philistines
, thus burning
up both
the shocks
and the standing
grain
, along
with the vineyards
and groves
.
Then the Philistines said
, "Who
did
this
?" And they said
, "Samson
, the son-in-law
of the Timnite
, because
1he took
his wife
and gave
her to his companion
." So the Philistines
came
up and aburned
her and her father
with fire
.
Samson said
to them, "Since
you act
like this
, I will surely
take
revenge
on you, but after
that I will quit
."
He struck them 1ruthlessly
with a great
slaughter
; and he went
down
and lived
in the cleft
of the rock
of Etam
.
Then the Philistines went
up and camped
in Judah
, and spread
out in Lehi
.
The men of Judah
said
, "Why
have you come
up against
us?" And they said
, "We have come
up to bind
Samson
in order to do
to him as he did
to us."
Then 3,000 men
of Judah
went
down
to the cleft
of the rock
of Etam
and said
to Samson
, "Do you not know
athat the Philistines
are rulers
over us? What
then is this
that you have done
to us?" And he said
to them, "As they did
to me, so
I have done
to them."
They said to him, "We have come
down
to bind
you so that we may give
you into the hands
of the Philistines
." And Samson
said
to them, "Swear
to me that you will not 1kill
me."
So they said to 1him, "No
, but we will bind
you fast
and give
you into their hands
; yet surely
we will not kill
you." Then they bound
him with two
new
ropes
and brought
him up from the rock
.
When he came to Lehi
, the Philistines
shouted
as they met
him. And athe Spirit
of the LORD
1came
upon him mightily
so that the ropes
that were on his arms
were as flax
that is burned
with fire
, and his bonds
2dropped
from his hands
.
He found a fresh
jawbone
of a donkey
, so he 1reached
out and took
it and 2killed
aa thousand
men
with it.
Then Samson said
, "With the jawbone
of a donkey
, 1Heaps
upon heaps
, With the jawbone
of a donkey
I have 2killed
a thousand
men
."
When he had finished speaking
, he threw
the jawbone
from his hand
; and he named
that place
1Ramath-lehi
.
Then he became very
thirsty
, and he acalled
to the LORD
and said
, "You have given
this
great
deliverance
by the hand
of Your servant
, and now
1shall I die
of thirst
2and fall
into the hands
of the uncircumcised
?"
But God split
the hollow
place that is in Lehi
so that water
came
out of it. When he drank
, ahis 1strength
returned
and he revived
. Therefore
he named
it 2En-hakkore
, which
is in Lehi
to this
day
.
So ahe judged Israel
twenty
years
in bthe days
of the Philistines
.