(KJV) Judges 15¹

<< Judges 14

Judges 16 >>

⥃Samson’s Revenge

[1] But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid²; and he said, I will go³ in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. [2] And her father said, I verily⁴ thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave⁵ her to thy companion: [is] not her younger sister fairer than she? take her⁶, I pray thee, instead of her.

[3] [¶]And Samson said concerning them, Now shall⁷ I be more blameless than the Philistines, though⁸ I do them a displeasure. [4] And Samson went and caught three⁹ hundred foxes, and took firebrands¹⁰, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.^1112131415 [5] And when he had set the brands on fire, he let [them] go¹⁶ into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards [and] olives.

[6] [¶]Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt¹⁷ her and her father with fire.

[7] [¶]And Samson said unto them, Though¹⁸ ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. [8] And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.¹⁹

[9] Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi²⁰. [10] And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. [11] Then three thousand men of Judah went²¹ to the top of the rock Etam²², and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines²³ [are] rulers over us? what [is] this [that] thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. [12] And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee²⁴, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall²⁵ upon me yourselves. [13] And 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 cords, and brought him up from the rock.

[14] [¶][And] when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines²⁶ shouted against him: and the Spirit²⁷ of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords²⁸ that [were] upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed²⁹ from off his hands. [15] And he found a new jawbone³⁰ of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew³¹ a thousand³² men therewith. [16] And Samson said, With the jawbone³³ of an ass, heaps upon heaps³⁴, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. [17] And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath–lehi³⁵.

[18] And he was sore³⁶ athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given³⁷ this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall³⁸ I die for thirst, and fall³⁹ into the hand of the uncircumcised⁴⁰? [19] But God clave an hollow place that [was] in the jaw⁴¹, and there came⁴² water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit⁴³ came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En–hakkore⁴⁴, which [is] in Lehi unto this day. [20] And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. ⁴⁵

<< Judges 14

Judges 16 >>