Judges 15 Parallel Bible Translations

Judges 15 ▼
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1 A while later during the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife, bringing along a young goat, and told his father-in-law, |I'm going into my wife's room.| But her father wouldn't give permission for him to go. 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, |Because I honestly thought that you hated her deeply, I gave her in marriage to your best man. Isn't her younger sister better than she? Please then, let her be yours 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 replied to them, |This time I'll be blameless when I do something evil to the Philistines.| 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 went out, caught 300 foxes, grabbed some torches, tied the foxes together in pairs at their tails, and fastened a torch between each pair of 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 Then he ignited the torches, set the foxes loose into the Philistines' unharvested grain, and burned up both the harvested shocks and the standing grain, along with their vineyards and olive groves. 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 Then the Philistines demanded, |Who did this?| Someone said, |Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because his father-in-law took Samson's wife and gave her to the best man at Samson's wedding.| In retaliation, the Philistines came up and burned her 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 replied to them, |Because you did this, I'm not going to stop until I get my revenge against you!| 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 ruthlessly in a massive slaughter, then left to live in the caves of 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 In response, the Philistines went up, encamped in the territory of Judah, and raided 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 leading men of Judah asked, |Why have you invaded us?| They replied, |We're here to arrest Samson. Then we're going to 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 In response, 3,000 soldiers from the tribe of Judah went down to the caves of the rock of Etam and asked Samson, |Don't you know that the Philistines have us in their control? What have you done to us?| |I did to them what they did to me,| he answered. 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 They responded, |We've come here to arrest you and transfer you to the custody of the Philistines.| Samson told them, |Promise me that you won't kill me.| 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 So they said, |No, we won't. But we're going to tie you up securely and transfer you to their custody. But we won't kill you.| Then they bound him with two ropes and brought him up from the caves. 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 Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, so that the ropes that bound him were like flax that's been burned by fire, and his bonds dissolved. 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 He happened upon a jawbone from a putrefying donkey, reached out to grab it, 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 declared, |With a jawbone from the donkey— here a heap, there a pair of heaps— with the jawbone of the donkey I've killed 1,000 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 finally finished bragging, he discarded the jawbone and named that place |Jawbone Heights.| 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 Aferward, he became thirsty, called out to the LORD, and told him, |So, you provided this great deliverance at the hands of your servant, but now I'm to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?| 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 a hollow place that's in Lehi, and water sprang out of it. After he had taken a drink, his strength returned, and he revived. That's why it was named |En-hakkore,| which is in Lehi to this day. 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 governed Israel for twenty years during the Philistine domination. 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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