Judges 15
New King James Version
Samson Defeats the Philistines
15 After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a (A)young goat. And he said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her room.” But her father would not permit him to go in.
2 Her father said, “I really thought that you thoroughly (B)hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead.”
3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!” 4 Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?”
And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” (C)So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
7 Samson said to them, “Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.” 8 So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; then he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of (D)Etam.
9 Now the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and deployed themselves (E)against Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?”
So they answered, “We have come up to [a]arrest Samson, to do to him as he has done 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 that the Philistines (F)rule over us? What is this you have done to us?”
And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.”
Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
13 So they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two (G)new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then (H)the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds [b]broke loose from his hands. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and (I)killed a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said:
“With the jawbone of a donkey,
Heaps upon heaps,
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have slain a thousand men!”
17 And so it was, when he had finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place [c]Ramath Lehi.
18 Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, (J)“You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split the hollow place that is in [d]Lehi, and water came out, and he drank; and (K)his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name [e]En Hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. 20 And (L)he judged Israel (M)twenty years (N)in the days of the Philistines.
Footnotes
- Judges 15:10 Lit. bind
- Judges 15:14 Lit. were melted
- Judges 15:17 Lit. Jawbone Height
- Judges 15:19 Lit. Jawbone, Judg. 15:14
- Judges 15:19 Lit. Spring of the Caller
Judges 15
English Standard Version
Samson Defeats the Philistines
15 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with (A)a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, (B)so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife (C)and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and (D)burned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the (E)cleft of the rock of Etam.
9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and (F)made a raid on (G)Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that (H)the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” 12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two (I)new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. (J)Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, (K)and with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey,
heaps upon heaps,
with the jawbone of a donkey
have I struck down a thousand men.”
17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place (L)was called Ramath-lehi.[a]
18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, (M)“You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is (N)at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, (O)his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore;[b] it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel (P)in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
Footnotes
- Judges 15:17 Ramath-lehi means the hill of the jawbone
- Judges 15:19 En-hakkore means the spring of him who called
Judges 15
Tree of Life Version
Victory with a Jawbone
15 But after a while, during the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. “I am going to my wife in her room,” he said.
But her father would not let him enter. 2 “I thought for sure you had utterly hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister—isn’t she better than her? Please, let her be yours instead.”
3 Then Samson said to them, “This time I am blameless from the Philistines when I do harm to them.” 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes, and took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch between every two tails. 5 Then he set fire to the torches and released them into the standing grain of the Philistines, Thus he burned up both the stacks and the standing grain, along with vineyards and olive trees.
6 Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 Then Samson said to them, “Since you have acted like this, surely I will take revenge on you—after that I will quit.” 8 So he struck them leg upon thigh with a great slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah and spread out in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah asked, “Why have you marched against us?”
They replied, “We have come to arrest Samson—to do to him as he did to us.”
11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are ruling over us? So what is this that you have done to us?”
He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
12 “We have come down to bind you,” they said to him, “so that we may hand you over to the Philistines.”
So Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”
13 “No, we won’t kill you,” they said to him, “but we will bind you fast and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he arrived at Lehi, the Philistines shouted upon meeting him. But the Ruach Adonai came mightily upon him so that the ropes that were on his arms became like flax burned with fire and his bonds melted off his wrists. 15 Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out and took it, and killed a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey,
a heap . . . two heaps,
with the jawbone of a donkey
I struck down a thousand men.”
17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand. Then he named that place Ramat-lehi. [a] 18 Then he became very thirsty, so he called to Adonai and said, “You have granted this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant. So now, will I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
19 But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he drank, he regained his strength and revived. Therefore he called it En-hakkore[b], which is in Lehi to this day. 20 Then he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for 20 years.
Footnotes
- Judges 15:18 Meaning High Place of the Jawbone.
- Judges 15:19 Meaning Spring of One Calling Out.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.