1 B ut later Samson visited his wife during grain gathering time with a young goat. Samson said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him go in.

And it came to pass after a time, in the days of the wheat-harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of the goats. And he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber; but her father would not suffer him to go in.

2 H er father said, “I thought you hated her. So I gave her to your friend. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Let her be yours instead.”

And her father said, I verily thought that thou didst utterly hate her; therefore I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Let her, I pray thee, be thine instead of her.

3 S amson said to him, “This time I will be without blame when I hurt the Philistines.”

And Samson said to them, This time I am blameless toward the Philistines, though I do them harm.

4 S o Samson went and caught 300 foxes. He tied them together tail to tail. And he put a fire stick between the tails of every two foxes.

And Samson went and caught three hundred jackals, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between the two tails.

5 T hen he set fire to the sticks and let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines. So the standing grain and cut grain and vines and olive trees were burned up.

And he set the torches on fire, and let run into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, and the olive gardens.

6 T he Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they were told, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because the Timnite took his wife and gave her to his friend.” So the Philistines came and burned her and her father with fire.

And the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burned her and her father with fire.

7 S amson said to them, “For sure I will punish you for acting like this. After that I will stop.”

And Samson said to them, If ye act thus, for a certainty I will avenge myself on you, and then I will cease.

8 H e killed many of them without mercy. Then Samson went down and lived in the opening of the rock of Etam.

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the cliff Etam.

9 T he Philistines went and set up their tents in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.

And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

10 T he men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” The Philistines said, “We have come to take Samson and do to him as he did to us.”

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

11 T hen 3, 000 men of Judah went down to the opening of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this that you have done to us?” Samson said to them, “I have done to them as they did to me.”

Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the cliff Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? And what is this that thou hast done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.

12 T hey said to him, “We have come to take you and give you to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me that you will not kill me.”

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

13 S o they said to him, “No, we will only tie you up and give you to them. We will not kill you.” So they tied him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

And they spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand; but we certainly shall not put thee to death. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the cliff.

14 W hen Samson came to Lehi, the Philistines came with a loud noise to meet him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson with power. The ropes on his arms became as weak as a burning plant, and fell from his hands.

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and the cords that were on his arms became as threads of flax that are burned with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

15 S amson found a jawbone of a donkey and took it in his hand. He killed 1, 000 men with it.

And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew with it a thousand men.

16 T hen Samson said, “With the bone of a donkey there are bodies upon bodies. With the bone of a donkey I have killed 1, 000 men.”

And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

17 W hen he was done speaking, he threw the bone from his hand. And he called that place Ramath-lehi.

And it came to pass when he had ended speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-Lehi.

18 T hen Samson became very thirsty. He called to the Lord and said, “You have taken us away from trouble by the hand of Your servant. Now must I die of thirst and fall into the hands of those who have not gone through our religious act?”

And he was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given by the hand of thy servant this great deliverance, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

19 B ut God broke open a place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned. He received new life. So he called the place En-hakkore. It is in Lehi to this day.

And God clave the hallow rock which was in Lehi, and water came out of it. And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

20 S amson ruled Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

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