Judges 15

Some time later, during the wheat harvest, Samson visited the woman he was supposed to marry. He brought a young goat as a gift. He told her father that he wanted to sleep with her {to make their marriage official}. But her father would not let him do that.

Her father told him, “I honestly thought that you hated her. So I had her marry the young man who was your helper at the wedding feast. But her younger sister is even prettier. You can marry her instead.” \*

Samson refused, and he said to everyone who was listening, “Now I have a good reason to hurt the Philistines!”

Then Samson went out into the fields and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs. He got some torches, and he put a torch between each pair of tails. \*

He lit the torches and let the foxes run through the Philistines’ fields. The fire burned the grain they had harvested and the grain that was still in the fields. It also burned their olive trees.

The Philistine leaders asked, “Who did this?” Someone told them, “Samson did it. He was supposed to marry the daughter of a man who lived in the town of Timnah. But that man had his daughter marry Samson’s best man instead.” In revenge, the Philistines went and killed Samson’s fiancée and her father by burning them. \*

Samson found out that they had done that. He told them, “Because you killed my bride and her father, I am going to avenge their deaths. But I will do no more than that.”

Samson attacked the Philistines furiously and killed many of them. Then he went and hid in a cave in the rock of Etam. \*

Then many Philistine soldiers came and set up camp in the territory of Judah. There were so many of them that their camp covered a large area near the town that people later called Lehi.

The men of Judah asked them, “Why have you come to fight us?” The Philistines answered, “We have come to capture Samson. He killed many of us, and so we are going to kill him.” \*

Then 3,000 men from Judah went to the cave in the rock of Etam where Samson was hiding. They said to Samson, “The Philistines rule over us. You should have known not to upset them. You have caused much trouble for us.” Samson answered, “They killed my fiancée and her father, so I killed some of them.” \*

The men of Judah told Samson, “We have come to tie you up. We are going to give you to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me that you will not kill me yourselves.”

They answered, “We will only tie you up and give you to the Philistines. We will not kill you.” So they tied him with two new ropes and led him away from the rock. \*

When Samson came to the town of Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. Then the Spirit of God gave Samson great strength. His arms became so strong that he was able to break the rope around them as if it were weak thread. He also easily broke the rope that was around his hands. \*

Then Samson saw a donkey’s jawbone lying on the ground. It was new, so it was hard. He picked it up and used it to kill 1,000 men.

Then Samson made up this poem: “With a donkey’s jawbone, I have made piles of bodies. With a donkey’s jawbone, I have killed 1,000 men.” \*

After Samson finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi.

Samson was very thirsty. He called out to God, “You have given me this great victory. But now I am afraid that I will die of thirst. Then the Philistines, who do not worship you, will take my body and treat it shamefully!” \*

Then God split open a hollow place in Lehi. Water came out of it. When Samson drank some of that water, he felt strong again. So he named that spring En Hakkore. It is still in Lehi today.

Samson was the leader of Israel for 20 years. But during that time, the Philistines were in control of the land of Israel. \*