Judges

Judges 15 ©

1 Samson returning to visit his wife is denied admittance to her. 3 He setteth fire to the corn of the Philistines with foxes and firebrands: his wife and her father are burned by the Philistines. 7 Samson smiteth them, and retireth to the rock Etam. 9 The Philistines come up against him: the men of Judah with his consent deliver him bound to the Philistines. 14 He killeth a thousand of the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. 18 God openeth a fountain in Lehi to relieve his thirst.

1

BUT it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with aa kid; and he said, I will bgo in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

2

And her father said, cI *verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore dI gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? 1take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

3

¶And Samson said concerning them, 2Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

4

And Samson went and caught ethree hundred foxes, and took 3firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

5

And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both fthe *shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

6

¶Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and gburnt her and her father with fire.

7

¶And Samson said unto them, hThough ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

8

And he smote them ihip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in jthe top of the rock Etam.

9

¶Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and kspread themselves in lLehi.

l v.14,17,19.
10

And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

11

Then three thousand men of Judah 4went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are mrulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

12

And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may ndeliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

13

And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will obind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two pnew cords, and brought him up from the rock.

14

And when he came unto Lehi, the qPhilistines shouted against him: and the rSpirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and sthe cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands 5loosed from off his hands.

15

And he found a 6new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and tslew a thousand men therewith.

16

And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, 7heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

17

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place 8Ramath-lehi.

18

¶And uhe was *sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, vThou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now wshall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

19

But God *clave xan hollow place that was in the 9jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof 10En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

20

And he yjudged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.