Judges 14:8-15:20

New International Version

⁸ Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. ⁹ He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

¹⁰ Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast,^(A) as was customary for young men. ¹¹ When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.

¹² “Let me tell you a riddle,^(B)” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast,^(C) I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.^{(D) 13} If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

¹⁴ He replied,

For three days they could not give the answer.

¹⁵ On the fourth^[a] day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax^(F) your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death.^(G) Did you invite us here to steal our property?”

¹⁶ Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me.^(H) You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”

“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” ¹⁷ She cried the whole seven days^(I) of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

¹⁸ Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,

Samson said to them,

¹⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.^(K) He went down to Ashkelon,^(L) struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger,^(M) he returned to his father’s home. ²⁰ And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions^(N) who had attended him at the feast.

Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines

15 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest,^(O) Samson^(P) took a young goat^(Q) and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.”^(R) But her father would not let him go in.

² “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion.^(S) Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”

³ Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” ⁴ So he went out and caught three hundred foxes^(T) and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch^(U) to every pair of tails, ⁵ lit the torches^(V) and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks^(W) and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

⁶ When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.^(X)”

So the Philistines went up and burned her^(Y) and her father to death.^{(Z) 7} Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” ⁸ He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock^(AA) of Etam.^(AB)

⁹ The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.^{(AC) 10} The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”

“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us?^(AD) What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

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

Samson said, “Swear to me^(AE) that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

¹³ “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes^(AF) and led him up from the rock. ¹⁴ As he approached Lehi,^(AG) the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.^(AH) The ropes on his arms became like charred flax,^(AI) and the bindings dropped from his hands. ¹⁵ Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.^(AJ)

¹⁶ Then Samson said,

¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.^[c](AL)

¹⁸ Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord,^(AM) “You have given your servant this great victory.^(AN) Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived.^(AO) So the spring^(AP) was called En Hakkore,^[d] and it is still there in Lehi.

²⁰ Samson led^[e] Israel for twenty years^(AQ) in the days of the Philistines.