Judges 15:4-20 ▼

4 Then Samson (like the sun) went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.

5 Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines (immigrants), burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

6 “Who did this?” the Philistines (immigrants) demanded. “It was Samson (like the sun), the son-in-law of the Timnite (You will number: a portion),” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.

7 And Samson (like the sun) told them, “Because you⁺ have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you⁺.”

8 And he struck them ruthlessly \he struck them hip and thigh/ with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam (lair of wild beasts).

9 Then the Philistines (immigrants) went up, camped in Judah (praised), and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi \and spread out in Lehi/.

10 “Why have you⁺ attacked us?” said the men of Judah (praised). The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson (like the sun) and pay him back for what he has done to us.”

11 In response, three thousand men of Judah (praised) went to the cave at the rock of Etam (lair of wild beasts), and they asked Samson (like the sun), “Do you not realize that the Philistines (immigrants) rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.

12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines (immigrants).” Samson (like the sun) replied, “Swear to me that you⁺ will not kill me yourselves.”

13 “No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.

14 When Samson arrived in Lehi (jaw), the Philistines (immigrants) came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD {Ruach YHWH} came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands.

15 He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.

16 Then Samson (like the sun) said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps (I have made them into donkeys). With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”

17 And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi (the hill of the jawbone).

18 And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD {YHWH}, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

19 So God {Elohim} opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength {ruachow} returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore (spring of One calling), and it remains in Lehi (jaw) to this day.

20 And Samson judged Israel (he wrestles with God) for twenty years in the days of the Philistines (immigrants).