Judges 14:19-15:17

New International Version

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.^(A) He went down to Ashkelon,^(B) struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger,^(C) he returned to his father’s home. ²⁰And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions^(D) who had attended him at the feast.

Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines

15 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest,^(E) Samson^(F) took a young goat^(G) and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.”^(H) But her father would not let him go in.

²“I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion.^(I) Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”

³Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” ⁴So he went out and caught three hundred foxes^(J) and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch^(K) to every pair of tails, ⁵lit the torches^(L) and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks^(M) and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

⁶When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.^(N)”

So the Philistines went up and burned her^(O) and her father to death.^(P) ⁷Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” ⁸He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock^(Q) of Etam.^(R)

⁹The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.^(S) ¹⁰The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”

“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”

¹¹Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us?^(T) What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

¹²They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Samson said, “Swear to me^(U) that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

¹³“Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes^(V) and led him up from the rock. ¹⁴As he approached Lehi,^(W) the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.^(X) The ropes on his arms became like charred flax,^(Y) and the bindings dropped from his hands. ¹⁵Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.^(Z)