Samson’s Revenge 1 ULT And it happened after some days, in the days of the harvest of wheat, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of goats. And he said,“I will go in to my wife, to the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. BSB BSB: Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.
2 ULT And her father said,“Saying, I said that hating, you hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please let her be to you instead of her.” BSB BSB: “I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
3 ULT And Samson said to them,“This time I will be blameless regarding the Philistines when I do harm to them.” BSB BSB: Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”
4 ULT And Samson went and caught 300 foxes, and he took torches, and he turned tail to tail, and he put one torch between two of the tails, in the middle. BSB BSB: Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.
5 ULT And he kindled fire in the torches and sent{ them} into the{ standing} grain of the Philistines, and he burned from stack and to{ standing} grain, and to grove of olive tree. BSB BSB: Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
6 ULT 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. BSB BSB: “Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
7 ULT And Samson said to them,“If you have done like this, then if I avenge against you, then afterward I will stop.” BSB BSB: And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.”
8 ULT Then he struck them leg on thigh, a great striking. And he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. BSB BSB: And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
9 ULT And the Philistines went up and encamped in Judah, and they spread out in Lehi. BSB BSB: Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi.
10 ULT And the men of Judah said,“Why have you come up against us?” And they said,“We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him just as he has done to us.” BSB BSB: “Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.”
11 ULT Then 3, 000 men from Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson,“Do you not know that the Philistines are ruling over us? So what is this you have done to us?” And he said to them,“Just as they did to me, so I have done to them.” BSB BSB: In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.
12 ULT And they said to him,“We have come down to bind you, to give you into the hand of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them,“Swear to me that you will not strike me yourselves.” BSB BSB: But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
13 ULT And they spoke to him, saying,“No, but binding, we will bind you and we will give you into their hand, but putting to death, we will not put you to death.” Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. BSB BSB: “No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
14 ULT He came to Lehi, and the Philistines shouted to meet him. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed on him, and the ropes that{ were} on his arms became like flax that they burn with fire, and his bonds melted from on his hands. BSB BSB: When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands.
15 ULT And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and he stretched out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1, 000 men. BSB BSB: He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.
16 ULT And Samson said,“With the jawbone of a donkey, a heap, two heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck 1, 000 men.” BSB BSB: Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
17 ULT And it happened in his finishing to speak, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, so he called that place Ramath Lehi. BSB BSB: And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.
18 ULT But he was very thirsty, so he called to Yahweh and said,“You have given this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” BSB BSB: And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
19 ULT Then God split open the hollow place that{ is} in Lehi, and water came out from it. And he drank and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore, he called its name En- Hakkore, which{ is} in Lehi to this day. BSB BSB: So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.
20 ULT And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 20 years. BSB BSB: And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
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