Judges 9-16

New American Standard Bible

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 Now ^(A)Abimelech the son of ^[a]Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s relatives, and spoke to them and to the entire family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, ² “Speak, now, in the hearing of all the ^[b]leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: for ^(B)seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, to rule over you, or for one man to rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am ^(C)your bone and your flesh.” ³ So his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the ^[c]leaders of Shechem; and ^[d]they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is ^(D)our relative.” ⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of ^(E)Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house in Ophrah and ^(F)killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, ^(G)seventy men, ^[e]on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. ⁶ All the ^[f]leaders of Shechem and all ^[g]Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the ^[h]oak of the memorial stone which was in Shechem.

⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on the top of ^(H)Mount Gerizim, and raised his voice and called out. And he said to them, “Listen to me, you ^[i]leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my fatness with ^[j]which God and mankind are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my sweetness and my good ^[k]fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I give up my new wine, which cheers God and mankind, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you ^[l]really are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now then, if you have acted with ^[m]honesty and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(I)Jerubbaal and his house, and ^[n]have dealt with him ^[o]as he deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you, and ^[p]risked his life and saved you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸ but in fact you have risen against my father’s house today and have killed ^(J)his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, ^(K)the son of his female slave, king over the ^[q]leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— ¹⁹ so if you have acted with ^[r]honesty and integrity toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, be joyful about Abimelech, and may he also be joyful about you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out of Abimelech and consume the ^[s]leaders of Shechem and ^[t]Beth-millo; and may fire come out of the ^[u]leaders of Shechem and from ^[v]Beth-millo, and consume Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer; and he stayed there because of his brother Abimelech.

Shechem and Abimelech Fall

²² Now Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. ^23 (L)Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the ^[w]leaders of Shechem; and the ^[x]leaders of Shechem ^(M)dealt treacherously with Abimelech, ^24 (N)so that the violence ^[y]done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal would come, and the responsibility for ^(O)their blood would be placed on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the ^[z]leaders of Shechem, who ^[aa]encouraged him to kill his brothers. ²⁵ The ^[ab]leaders of Shechem set up men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed everyone who would pass by them on the road; and it was reported to Abimelech.

²⁶ Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his relatives, and crossed over into Shechem; and the ^[ac]leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ So they went out to the field and gathered the grapes of their vineyards and trampled them, and held a festival; and they went into the house of ^(P)their god, and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is Zebul not his governor? Serve the men of ^(Q)Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ^29 [ad](R)If only this people were under my authority! Then I would do away with Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Enlarge your army and come out!”

³⁰ When Zebul the leader of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned. ³¹ So using deception, he successfully sent messengers to Abimelech, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem; and behold, they are ^[ae]stirring up the city against you. ³² So now, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. ³³ Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early and attack the city; and behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you shall ^(S)do to them ^[af]whatever you can.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the people who were with him got up at night, and lay in wait against Shechem, in four ^[ag]units. ³⁵ Now Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate; and Abimelech and the people who were with him arose from the ambush. ³⁶ When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “^[ah]Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadow of the mountains as if they were people.” ³⁷ And Gaal spoke yet again and said, “Look, people are coming down from ^(T)the ^[ai]highest part of the land, and one ^[aj]unit is coming by way of ^[ak]the diviners’ ^[al]oak.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where then is your ^[am]boasting with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you rejected? Go out now and fight them!” ³⁹ So Gaal went out ^[an]in the sight of the ^[ao]leaders of Shechem and fought Abimelech. ⁴⁰ But Abimelech chased him, and he fled from him; and many fell wounded up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ Then Abimelech stayed in Arumah, but Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives so that they could not stay in Shechem.

⁴² Now it came about the next day, that the people went out to the field, and it was reported to Abimelech. ⁴³ So he took ^[ap]his people and divided them into three ^[aq]units, and lay in wait in the field; when he looked and ^[ar]saw the people coming out from the city, he ^[as]attacked them and killed them. ⁴⁴ Then Abimelech and the ^[at]company who was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the city gate; the other two ^[au]companies then attacked all who were in the field and killed them. ⁴⁵ Abimelech fought against the city that whole day, and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it; then he ^(U)tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the ^[av]leaders of the tower of Shechem heard about it, they entered the inner chamber of the ^[aw]temple of ^(V)El-berith. ⁴⁷ And it was reported to Abimelech that all the ^[ax]leaders of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ So Abimelech went up to Mount ^(W)Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took ^[ay]an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees, and lifted it and put it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you saw me do, hurry and do ^[az]likewise.” ⁴⁹ So all the people also cut down, each one, his branch and followed Abimelech, and put them on top of the inner chamber and set the inner chamber on fire over those inside, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he camped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower in the center of the city, and all the men and women with all the ^[ba]leaders of the city fled there and shut themselves in; and they went up on the roof of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it down with fire. ⁵³ But ^(X)a woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull. ⁵⁴ Then ^(Y)he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that it will not be said of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So ^[bb]the young man pierced him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ Now when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each left for his ^[bc]home. ⁵⁶ So ^(Z)God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came ^[bd]upon them.

Oppression by Philistines and Ammonites

10 Now after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, ^(AA)rose up to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² He judged Israel for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.

³ After him, Jair the Gileadite rose up and judged Israel for twenty-two years. ⁴ And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities ^[be]in the land of Gilead ^(AB)that are called ^[bf]Havvoth-jair to this day. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

⁶ Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^(AC)they served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, ^(AD)the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; so ^(AE)they abandoned the Lord and did not serve Him. ⁷ And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He ^(AF)sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. ⁸ And they ^[bg]afflicted and oppressed the sons of Israel ^[bh]that year; for eighteen years they oppressed all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan, ^[bi]in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. ⁹ And the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was in great difficulty.

¹⁰ Then the ^(AG)sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have abandoned our God and served the Baals.” ¹¹ And the Lord said to the sons of Israel, “Did I not save you ^(AH)from the Egyptians, ^(AI)the Amorites, ^(AJ)the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? ¹² And when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites ^(AK)oppressed you, you cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hands. ¹³ Yet ^(AL)you abandoned Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer save you. ^14 (AM)Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” ¹⁵ Then the sons of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned, ^(AN)do to us whatever ^[bj]seems good to You; only please save us this day.” ^16 (AO)So they removed the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord; and ^[bk](AP)He could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

¹⁷ Then the sons of Ammon were summoned, and they camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel gathered together and camped in ^(AQ)Mizpah. ¹⁸ And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah, the Ninth Judge

11 Now ^(AR)Jephthah the Gileadite was a ^[bl]valiant warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. And Gilead had fathered Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(AS)Tob; and worthless men gathered ^[bm]around Jephthah, and they went ^[bn]wherever he did.

⁴ Now it came about, after a while, that ^(AT)the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵ When the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; ⁶ and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “^(AU)Did you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” ⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “For this reason we have now returned to you, that you may go with us and fight the sons of Ammon, and ^(AV)become our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and the Lord gives them up ^[bo]to me, will I become your head?” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “^(AW)The Lord is ^[bp]witness between us; be assured we will do ^[bq]as you have said.” ¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at ^(AX)Mizpah.

¹² So Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What conflict do you and I have, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ And the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “It is because Israel ^(AY)took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the ^(AZ)Jabbok and the Jordan; so return them peaceably now.” ¹⁴ But Jephthah sent messengers once again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵ and they said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶ For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel ^(BA)went through the wilderness to the ^[br]Red Sea, and ^(BB)came to Kadesh, ¹⁷ then Israel ^(BC)sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land”; but the king of Edom would not listen. ^(BD)And they also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they went through the wilderness and ^(BE)around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they ^(BF)did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ And Israel sent ^(BG)messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.” ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. ²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and they ^[bs](BH)defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ^22 (BI)So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. ²³ And now the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from His people Israel; so should you possess it? ²⁴ Do you not possess what ^(BJ)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess it. ²⁵ Now then, are you any better than ^(BK)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ^26 (BL)While Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? ²⁷ So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me. ^(BM)May the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’” ²⁸ But the king of the sons of Ammon ^[bt]disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

²⁹ Now ^(BN)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over to me the sons of Ammon, ³¹ then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return ^[bu]safely from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord handed them over to him. ³³ He ^[bv]inflicted a very great defeat on them from Aroer ^[bw]to the entrance of ^(BO)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

³⁴ But Jephthah came to his house at ^(BP)Mizpah, and behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him ^(BQ)with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ So when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, my daughter! You have brought me disaster, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have ^[bx]given my word to the Lord, and ^(BR)I cannot take it back.” ³⁶ So she said to him, “My father, you have ^[by]given your word to the Lord; ^(BS)do to me just as ^[bz]you have said, since the Lord has brought you vengeance on your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷ And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; allow me two months, so that I may ^[ca]go to the mountains and weep because of ^(BT)my virginity, I and my friends.” ³⁸ Then he said, “Go.” So he let her go for two months; and she left with her friends, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. ³⁹ And at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her ^[cb]what he had vowed; and she ^[cc]had no relations with a man. And it became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the ^[cd]daughters of Israel went annually to ^[ce]commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.

Jephthah and His Successors

12 Now the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed ^[cf]to Zaphon; and ^(BU)they said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you!” ² So Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were in a major dispute with the sons of Ammon; and I did call you, but you did not save me from their hand. ³ When I saw that you were no deliverer, I ^[cg](BV)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead ^[ch]defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You are survivors of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” ⁵ And the Gileadites ^(BW)took control of the crossing places of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened whenever any of the survivors of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” that the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶ then they would say to him, “Just say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he was not ^[ci]prepared to ^[cj]pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the crossing places of the Jordan. So at that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

⁸ Now Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him. ⁹ He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he ^[ck]gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel for seven years. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

¹¹ Now Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; he judged Israel for ten years. ¹² Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³ Now Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him. ¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel for eight years. ¹⁵ Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Philistines Oppress Again

13 Now the sons of Israel ^(BX)again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a man of ^(BY)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had not given birth to any children. ^3 (BZ)Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are infertile and have not given birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ And now, be careful ^(CA)not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[cl]unclean thing. ^5 (CB)For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^(CC)Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “^(CD)A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. So I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. ⁷ But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[cm]unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord and said, “Lord, please let ^(CE)the man of God whom You have sent come to us again so that he may teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and ^(CF)the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman hurried and ran, and told her ^[cn]husband, “Behold, ^(CG)the man who ^[co]came the other day has appeared to me!” ¹¹ So Manoah got up and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you ^(CH)the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² Then Manoah said, “Now when your words ^[cp]are fulfilled, what shall be the boy’s way of life and his vocation?” ¹³ And ^(CI)the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “^(CJ)The woman shall pay attention ^[cq]to all that I said. ¹⁴ She shall not eat anything that comes from the ^(CK)vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; she shall keep all that I commanded.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to ^(CL)the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ But the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, ^(CM)I will not eat your ^[cr]food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. ¹⁷ And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “^(CN)What is your name, so that when your words ^[cs]are fulfilled, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, for it is ^[ct](CO)wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(CP)Manoah took the young goat along with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(CQ)fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. ^(CR)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²² So Manoah said to his wife, “^(CS)We will certainly die, for we have seen God.” ²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have ^(CT)shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son, and named him Samson; and the ^(CU)child grew up and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ And ^(CV)the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him when he was in ^[cu](CW)Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s Marriage

14 Then Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. ² So he came ^[cv]back and told his father and ^[cw]mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, get her for me as a wife.” ³ But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your ^(CX)relatives, or among all ^[cx]our people, that you go to ^(CY)take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” Yet Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she is right ^[cy]for me.” ⁴ However, his father and mother did not know that ^(CZ)this was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

⁵ Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶ And ^(DA)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, so that ^(DB)he tore it apart as one tears apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ So he went down and talked to the woman; and she ^[cz]looked pleasing to Samson. ⁸ When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. ⁹ So he took out ^[da]the honey on his ^[db]hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had took the honey out of the body of the lion.

¹⁰ Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson held a feast there, for the young men customarily did this. ¹¹ When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Samson’s Riddle

¹² Then Samson said to them, “Let me now ^(DC)propose a riddle for you; if you actually tell me ^[dc]the answer within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty ^(DD)outfits of clothes. ¹³ But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty outfits of clothes.” And they said to him, “Propose your riddle, so that we may hear it.” ¹⁴ So he said to them,

But they could not tell the answer to the riddle in three days.

¹⁵ Then it came about on the ^[dd]fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, “^(DE)Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, ^(DF)or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?” ¹⁶ So Samson’s wife wept in front of him and said, “^(DG)You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have proposed a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?” ¹⁷ However she wept before him for seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸ So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

And he said to them,

¹⁹ Then ^(DH)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men of them and took what they were wearing and gave the outfits of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. ²⁰ But Samson’s wife was ^(DI)given to his companion who had been his ^[de]friend.

Samson Burns Philistine Crops

15 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife ^(DJ)with a young goat, and said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him enter. ² Her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I ^(DK)gave her to your companion. Is her younger sister not ^[df]more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours ^[dg]instead.” ³ Samson then said to them, “This time I will have been blameless regarding the Philistines when I do them harm.” ⁴ And Samson went and caught three hundred jackals, and took torches, and turned the jackals tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. ⁵ When he had set fire to the torches, he released the jackals into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to both the bundled heaps and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves. ⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And some said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because ^[dh]he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and ^(DL)burned her and her father to death with fire. ⁷ Then Samson said to them, “If this is how you act, I will certainly take revenge on you, and only after that will I stop.” ⁸ So he struck them ^[di]ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and afterward he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

⁹ Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi. ¹⁰ So the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.” ¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know ^(DM)that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “Just as they did to me, so I have done to them.” ¹² Then they said to him, “We have come down to bind you so that we may hand you over to the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not ^[dj]kill me.” ¹³ So they said to ^[dk]him, “No, but we will bind you tightly and give you into their hands; but we certainly will not kill you.” Then they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And ^(DN)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him so that the ropes that were on his arms were like flax that has burned with fire, and his restraints ^[dl]dropped from his hands. ¹⁵ Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out with his hand and took it, and ^[dm]killed ^(DO)a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ And Samson said,

¹⁷ When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place ^[dp]Ramath-lehi. ¹⁸ Then he became very thirsty, and he ^(DP)called to the Lord and said, “You have ^[dq]handed this great ^[dr]victory over to Your servant, and now ^[ds]am I to die of thirst ^[dt]and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, ^(DQ)his ^[du]strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it ^[dv]En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. ²⁰ So ^(DR)he judged Israel for twenty years in ^(DS)the days of the Philistines.

Samson’s Weakness

16 Now Samson went to ^(DT)Gaza and saw a prostitute there, and had relations with her. ² When it was reported to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” they ^(DU)surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let’s wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.” ³ Now Samson lay asleep until midnight, and at midnight he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two doorposts, and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

⁴ After this it came about that he was in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ So the ^(DV)governors of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “^(DW)Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and ^[dw]how we can overpower him so that we may bind him to humble him. Then we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” ⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and ^[dx]how you can be bound to humble you.” ⁷ And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh ^[dy]animal tendons that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” ⁸ Then the governors of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh ^[dz]animal tendons that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had men prepared for an ambush in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he tore the tendons to pieces just like a thread of flax is torn apart when it ^[ea]comes too close to fire. So his strength was not discovered.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have toyed with me and told me lies; now please tell me ^[eb]how you may be bound.” ¹¹ Then He said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes ^[ec]which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” For the men in the ambush were waiting in the inner room. But he tore ^[ed]the ropes from his arms like thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have toyed with me and told me lies; tell me ^[ee]how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my ^[ef]hair with the ^[eg]web ^[eh][and fasten it with the pin, then I will be weak like any other man.” ¹⁴ So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven locks of his ^[ei]hair with the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

Delilah Extracts His Secret

¹⁵ Then she said to him, “^(DX)How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have toyed with me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.” ¹⁶ And it came about, when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was ^[ej]annoyed to death. ¹⁷ So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a ^(DY)Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent word and called the governors of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the governors of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the money in their hands. ¹⁹ And she made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to humble him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that ^(DZ)the Lord had departed from him. ²¹ Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and restrained him with bronze chains, and he became a grinder in the prison. ²² However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

²³ Now the governors of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to ^(EA)Dagon their god, and to celebrate, for they said,

²⁴ When the people saw him, ^(EB)they praised their god, for they said,

²⁵ It so happened when ^[ek]they were in high spirits, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he ^[el]entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶ Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “^[em]Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women, and all the governors of the Philistines were there. And about three thousand men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was entertaining them.

Samson Is Avenged

^28 (EC)Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord ^[en]God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once ^(ED)take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Then Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. ³⁰ And Samson said, “Let ^[eo]me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed outwards powerfully, so that the house fell on the governors and all the people who were in it. And the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime. ³¹ Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. ^(EE)So he had judged Israel for twenty years.