Judges 15:1-20
Sampson Fights the Philistines
1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”
“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”
11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”
He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”
12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
13 “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said,
“With a donkey’s jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.
With a donkey’s jawbone
I have killed a thousand men.”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.
20 Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
At the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife...He took a young goat with him as a gift...He said, “I am going to my wife’s room.”...But her father would not let Samson go in...He said, “I thought you hated her, so I let her marry the best man at the wedding...Her younger sister is more beautiful...Take her younger sister.”...But Samson said to him, “Now I have a good reason to hurt you Philistines...No one will blame me now.”...So Samson went out and caught 300 foxes...He took two foxes at a time and tied their tails together to make pairs...Then he tied a torch between the tails of each pair of foxes...He lit the torches that were between the foxes’ tails and let them run through the grain fields of the Philistines...In this way he burned up the plants growing in their fields and the stacks of grain they had cut...He also burned up their vineyards and their olive trees...The Philistines asked, “Who did this?”...Someone told them, “Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, did this...He did this because his father-in-law gave Samson’s wife to the best man at his wedding.”...So the Philistines burned Samson’s wife and her father to death...Then Samson said to the Philistines, “You did this bad thing to me, so now I will do bad things to you...Then I will be finished with you!”...Samson attacked the Philistines and killed many of them...Then he went and stayed in a cave in a place named the Rock of Etam...The Philistines went to the land of Judah and stopped near a place named Lehi...Their army camped there...The men of the tribe of Judah asked them, “Why have you Philistines come here to fight us?”...They answered, “We have come to get Samson...We want to make him our prisoner...We want to punish him for what he has done to our people.”...Then 3,000 men from the tribe of Judah went to the cave near the Rock of Etam and said to Samson, “What have you done to us?...Don’t you know that the Philistines rule over us?”...Samson answered, “I only punished them for what they did to me.”...Then they said to Samson, “We have come to tie you up...We will give you to the Philistines.”...Samson said to the men from Judah, “Promise me that you yourselves will not hurt me.”...The men from Judah said, “We agree...We will just tie you up and give you to the Philistines...We promise that we will not kill you.”...So they tied Samson with two new ropes and led him up from the cave in the rock...When Samson came to the place called Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him...They were shouting with joy...Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Samson with great power...Samson broke the ropes—they were like burned strings falling from his arms and the ropes on his hands seemed to melt away...Samson found a jawbone of a dead donkey and killed 1,000 Philistine men with it...Then Samson said, “With a donkey’s jawbone, I killed 1,000 men!...With a donkey’s jawbone, I piled them into a tall pile.”...When Samson finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down...So that place was named Ramath Lehi...Samson was very thirsty...So he cried to the LORD...He said, “I am your servant...You gave me this great victory...Please don’t let me die from thirst now...Please don’t let me be captured by men who are not even circumcised.”...There is a hole in the ground at Lehi...God made that hole crack open, and water came out...Samson drank the water and felt better...He felt strong again...So he named that water spring En Hakkore...It is still there in the city of Lehi today...Samson was a judge for the Israelites for 20 years during the time of the Philistines...