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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”

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. 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.” And Samson 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 he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 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. 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. 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.” 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.

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