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This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites;
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from the Shihor which is east of Egypt, even as far as the border of Ekron to the north (it is counted as Canaanite); the five governors of the Philistines: the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite; and the Avvite
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These nations are: the five governors of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
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Shamgar Saves Israel
Now after him came Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck and killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.
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Oppression by Philistines and Ammonites
Now after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, rose up to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.
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Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; so they abandoned the Lord and did not serve Him.
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And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the sons of Ammon.
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And the Lord said to the sons of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines?
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Philistines Oppress Again
Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.
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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 Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
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Samson’s Marriage
Then Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.
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So he came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, get her for me as a wife.”
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But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” Yet Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she is right for me.”
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However, his father and mother did not know that this was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
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Samson then said to them, “This time I will have been blameless regarding the Philistines when I do them harm.”
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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.
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Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And some said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father to death with fire.
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Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.
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Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know 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.”
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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 kill me.”
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When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And 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 dropped from his hands.
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So he judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
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So the governors of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and 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.”
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Then the governors of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh animal tendons that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
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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 comes too close to fire. So his strength was not discovered.
