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Samson Defeats the Philistines

15 After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat.[a] He said, “I want to go to my wife’s private room.” But her father would not allow him to enter. Her father said, “I really thought that you hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please, take her instead.”[b] And Samson said to them, “This time, as far as the Philistines are concerned, when I do something evil I am without blame.” And Samson went and captured three hundred foxes, and he took torches. He turned them tail to tail, and he put one torch between two tails. He set fire to the torches and let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and he burned both the stacks[c] of sheaves and the standing grain, up to the vineyards[d] of olive groves. And the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” And the Philistines went up and burned her and her father with fire. Samson said to them, “If you want to behave like this, I swear I will not rest unless I have taken revenge on you.” And he gave them a thorough beating,[e] and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 15:1 Literally “kid of goat”
  2. Judges 15:2 Literally “let her be in the place of her”
  3. Judges 15:5 Hebrew “stack”
  4. Judges 15:5 Hebrew “vineyard”
  5. Judges 15:8 Literally “he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow”

15 But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. And Samson said unto them, This time [a]shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I do them a mischief. And Samson went and caught three hundred [b]foxes, and took [c]firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the oliveyards. Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. And Samson said unto them, If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 15:3 Or, shall I be quits with
  2. Judges 15:4 Or, jackals
  3. Judges 15:4 Or, torches