Judges 15

1But 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.

1Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing a young goat as a gift. He said, 'I want to go into my wife's room,' but her father would not let him in.

2And 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.

2The father said, 'I was truly convinced that you hated her, so I gave her to your best man. Isn't her younger sister even more beautiful? Please, take her instead.'

3And Samson said unto them, This time shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I do them a mischief.

3Samson said to them, 'This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines. I cannot be blamed for the harm I am going to do to them.'

4And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails.

4So Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. He tied them tail to tail in pairs and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.

5And 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.

5He lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the harvested stacks, the grain still in the fields, and even the vineyards and olive groves.

6Then 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.

6The Philistines asked, 'Who did this?' They were told, 'Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, because his father-in-law took Samson's wife and gave her to his companion.' So the Philistines went up and burned the woman and her father to death.

7And Samson said unto them, If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

7Samson said to them, 'Since you acted like this, I swear I won't stop until I get my revenge on you!'

8And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

8He attacked them fiercely and killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.

9Then the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

9The Philistines went up and set up camp in the territory of Judah, spreading out near the town of Lehi.

10And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they said, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

10The men of Judah asked, 'Why have you come to fight us?' They answered, 'We have come to tie up Samson and do to him what he did to us.'

11Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

11Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, 'Don't you realize the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?' He answered, 'I only did to them what they did to me.'

12And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

12They said to him, 'We have come down to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.' Samson said, 'Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves.'

13And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

13'We won't,' they answered. 'We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We definitely won't kill you.' So they tied him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.

14When he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.

14As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came out to meet him with shouts of triumph. Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon Samson. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the ties on his wrists just dropped off.

15And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith.

15He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out and grabbed it, and used it to kill a thousand men.

16And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.

16Then Samson said, 'With the jawbone of a donkey, I have made piles upon piles. With the jawbone of a donkey, I have killed a thousand men.'

17And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath-lehi.

17When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone away; and that place was named Ramath-lehi.

18And he was sore athirst, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance by the hand of thy servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised.

18He became very thirsty and cried out to the LORD, 'You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these godless people?'

19But God clave the hollow place that is in Lehi, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore the name thereof was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi, unto this day.

19Then God opened up a hollow place in Lehi, and water gushed out. After Samson drank, his strength returned and he felt revived. So he named that spring En-hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi today.

20And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

20Samson led Israel as a judge for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.