Judges 15 - Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Samson’s Revenge

15 Later on, during the wheat harvest,(A) Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

2 “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

3 Samson said to them, “This time I won’t be responsible(B) when I harm the Philistines.” 4 So he went out and caught 300 foxes.(C) He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the piles of grain and the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.(D)

6 Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he has taken Samson’s wife and given her to another man.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

7 Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.” 8 He tore them limb from limb[a] with a great slaughter, and he went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

9 The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. 10 So the men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?”

They replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he did to us.”

11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule over us?(E) What have you done to us?”

“I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.[b]

12 They said to him, “We’ve come to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

13 “No,” they said,[c] “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes(F) and led him away from the rock.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord took control of[d] him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like burnt flax and his bonds fell off his wrists. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed 1,000 men with it. 16 Then Samson said:

With the jawbone of a donkey
I have piled them in a heap.
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have killed 1,000 men.

17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Ramath-lehi.[e] 18 He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord: “You have accomplished this great victory through[f] Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived.(G) That is why he named it En-hakkore,[g] which is in Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines.

Footnotes

  1. Judges 15:8 Lit He struck them hip on thigh
  2. Judges 15:11 Lit answered them
  3. Judges 15:13 Lit said to him
  4. Judges 15:14 Lit Lord rushed on
  5. Judges 15:17 = High Place of the Jawbone
  6. Judges 15:18 Lit through the hand of
  7. Judges 15:19 = Spring of the One Who Cried Out

Cross references

  1. 15:1 : Gn 30:14; Ex 34:22; 1Sm 6:13; 12:17
  2. 15:3 : Nm 5:19, 28, 31; 1Sm 26:9; Jr 2:35
  3. 15:4 : Neh 4:3; Ps 63:10; Sg 2:15; Lm 5:18; Ezk 13:4
  4. 15:5 : Ex 22:6
  5. 15:11 : Lv 26:25; Dt 28:43; Jdg 13:1; 14:4; Ps 106:40-42
  6. 15:13 : Jdg 16:11-12
  7. 15:19 : Gn 45:27; 1Kg 17:22; 2Kg 13:21; Is 38:16, 21; Ezk 37:3, 14

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Judges 15 - World English Bible (WEB)

15 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He said, “I will go in to my wife’s room.”But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in. 2 Her father said, “I most certainly thought that you utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn’t...
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Judges 15 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

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Judges 15 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Samson Defeats the Philistines15 After a while, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a kid; and he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her; so I gave ...
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Judges 15 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

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Judges 15 - New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

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Judges 15 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

Samson Defeats the Philistines15 After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a kid. He said, ‘I want to go into my wife’s room.’ But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 Her father said, ‘I was sure that you had rejected her; so I gave her to...
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Judges 15 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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Judges 15 - New Living Translation (NLT)

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Judges 15 - New Life Version (NLV)

Samson Wins over the Philistines15 But later Samson visited his wife during grain gathering time with a young goat. Samson said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him go in. 2 Her father said, “I thought you hated her. So I gave her to your friend. Is not her younger...
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Judges 15 - New International Version (NIV)

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Judges 15 - New English Translation (NET)

Samson Versus the Philistines15 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest,[a] Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride.[b] He said to her father,[c] “I want to sleep with[d] my bride in her bedroom!”[e] But her father would not let him enter. 2 Her father said, “I really though...
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