Old Testament · History

Judges chapter 15

Some time later, during the , Samson went to visit his wife, bringing a as a gift. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father wouldn’t let him go in.Her father said, “I was sure you completely despised her, so I gave her to your . But her younger sister is even more beautiful — take her instead.”Samson said to them, “This time I’m in getting back at the — I’m going to cause them real damage.”So Samson went out and caught three hundred . He took , tied the foxes tail to tail in pairs, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.He lit the torches and released the foxes into the of the Philistines. He burned up the stacked grain, the standing grain, and even the .The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, the son-in-law of the man from — because the man took Samson’s wife and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and .Samson said to them, “If this is how you act, then I swear I won’t stop until I’ve on you.”He , with a massive slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the .The Philistines marched up and set up camp in , spreading out near .The men of Judah asked, “Why have you come up against us?” They answered, “We’ve come to capture Samson — to do to him what he did to us.”So three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize ? What have you done to us?” He answered, “I only did to them what they did to me.”They told him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”“We won’t,” they assured him. “We’ll only tie you up securely and hand you over to them. We absolutely won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two and brought him up from the rock.When he reached Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then . The ropes on his arms became like burned-through , and the bindings melted off his hands.He found a of a donkey, reached out and grabbed it, and struck down with it.Then Samson declared: “With a donkey’s jawbone — ! With a donkey’s jawbone — I’ve struck down a thousand men!”When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone away. And that place was called .He was desperately thirsty and called out to , saying, “You’ve given this incredible victory through . Am I now going to die of thirst and fall into the hands of ?”So the hollow place at Lehi, and water flowed out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. That’s why it’s called — it’s still there in Lehi today.Samson for twenty years .