Judges 15 Parallel Bible Translations

Judges 15 ▼
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1 Later, during the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife. He took a young goat along for her. He said, |I'm going to sleep with my wife in her bedroom.| But her father would not let him go in. After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 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 Her father said, |I thought you hated her. So I gave her to your best man. Isn't her younger sister better looking? Marry her instead!| And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” “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 him, |This time I won't be guilty when I get even with the Philistines, even though I'm going to do something terrible to them.| And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.”
4 So Samson caught 300 foxes. He tied them together in pairs by their tails. Then he fastened a torch between their tails. So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 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 He set the torches on fire and released the foxes in the Philistines' grain fields. So he set fire to all their grain, whether it was stacked or in the fields. Their olive orchards also caught on fire. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 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 Some Philistines asked, |Who did this?| They were told, |Samson! He's the son-in-law of the man at Timnah. Samson did it because the man at Timnah took Samson's wife and gave her to his best man.| So the Philistines burned Samson's wife and her father to death. Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. 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, |If that's how you're going to act, I'll get even with you before I stop.| And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 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 So he attacked them violently and slaughtered them. Then he went to live in a cave in the cliff at Etam. And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. 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 came, camped in Judah, and overran Lehi. Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.
10 The men of Judah asked, |Why did you come to fight us?| The Philistines answered, |We've come to tie up Samson and do to him what he did to us.| And 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 did to us.” 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 So 3,000 men from Judah went to the cave in the cliff at Etam. They said to Samson, |Don't you know that the Philistines rule us? Why have you done this to us?| Samson replied, |I did to them what they did to me.| Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that 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 have I done to them.” 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 So the men from Judah told him, |We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.| Samson said to them, |Swear to me that you won't harm me yourselves.| And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 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 They told him, |We promise we'll only tie you up and hand you over to them. We certainly won't kill you.| So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff. They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. “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 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines met him with shouts [of triumph]. But the LORD's Spirit came over him. The ropes on his arms became like strings burned in a fire, and those on his hands snapped. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 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 Samson found the jawbone from a donkey that had just died. He picked it up and killed 1,000 men with it. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said, |With a jawbone from a donkey, I've made two piles of them. With a jawbone from a donkey, I've killed a thousand men.| And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 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 saying this, he threw the jawbone away. He called that place Ramath Lehi [Jawbone Hill]. As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
18 Samson was very thirsty. So he called out to the LORD and said, |You have given me this great victory. But now I'll die from thirst and fall into the power of godless men.| And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 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 So God split open the hollow place at Lehi, and water gushed out. Samson drank some water. Then he was refreshed and revived. So he called the place En Hakkore [Spring of the One Who Calls Out]. It is still there at Lehi today. And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 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 judged Israel for 20 years during the time of the Philistines. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
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