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Samson Strikes Down the Philistines

15 Now it happened that after a while, in the time of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife (A)with a young goat and said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him enter. And her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I (B)gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please let her be yours [a]instead.” Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.” So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. Then he set fire to the torches and sent [b]the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. So he caused both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves, to burn. Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because [c]he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and (C)burned her and her father with fire. Then Samson said to them, “If you act like this, then I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will cease.” And he struck them [d]ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 15:2 Lit instead of her
  2. Judges 15:5 Lit them
  3. Judges 15:6 The Timnite
  4. Judges 15:8 Lit leg on thigh

Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines

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

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

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

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

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

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