Samson’s Revenge

1Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson (like the sun) took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

2“I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”

3Samson (like the sun) said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines (immigrants).”

4Then 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. 5Then 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.

7And Samson (like the sun) told them, “Because you⁺ have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you⁺.” 8And he struck them ruthlessly \he struck them hip and thigh/a with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam (lair of wild beasts).

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

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.”

11In 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.

12But 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.

14When 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. 15He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men. 16Then Samson (like the sun) said:

“With the jawbone of a donkey

I have piled them into heaps (I have made them into donkeys).c

With the jawbone of a donkey

I have slain a thousand men.”

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

18And 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?”

19So 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),e and it remains in Lehi (jaw) to this day.

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