Samson Defeats the Philistines

Judges 15

1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with k a young goat. 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, l so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead." 3 And Samson said to them, "This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm." 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, "Who has done this?" And they said, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife m and given her to his companion." And the Philistines came up and n burned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, "If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit." 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the o cleft of the rock of Etam.

9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and p made a raid on q Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" They said, "We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us." 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, "Do you not know that r the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "As they did to me, so have I done to them." 12 And they said to him, "We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves." 13 They said to him, "No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you." So they bound him with two s new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. t Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, u and with it he struck 1,000 men.

16 And Samson said,
"With the jawbone of a donkey,
heaps upon heaps,
with the jawbone of a donkey
have I struck down a thousand men."

17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place v was called Ramath-lehi. 1

18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, w "You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" 19 And God split open the hollow place that is v at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, x his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; 2 it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel y in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

  1. Cross References
    Genesis 38:17
    He answered, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." And she said, "If you give me a pledge, until you send it -
  2. Cross References
    Judges 15:6
    Then the Philistines said, "Who has done this?" And they said, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion." And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
    Judges 14:20
    And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
  3. Cross References
    Judges 15:2
    And her father said, "I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.
  4. Cross References
    Judges 14:15
    On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?
  5. Cross References
    Judges 15:11
    Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "As they did to me, so have I done to them.
    Isaiah 2:21
    To enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.
    Isaiah 57:5
    You who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
  6. Cross References
    2 Samuel 5:18
    Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
    2 Samuel 5:22
    And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
  7. Cross References
    Judges 15:14
    When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
    Judges 15:17
    As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.
    Judges 15:19
    And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day.
  8. Cross References
    Judges 13:1
    And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
    Judges 14:4
    His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
  9. Cross References
    Judges 16:11 - 12
    And he said to her, "If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.
  10. Cross References
    Judges 14:6
    Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
    Judges 14:19
    And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house.
    1 Samuel 11:6
    And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.
    Judges 3:10
    The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
  11. Cross References
    Joshua 23:10
    One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.
    Judges 3:31
    After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.
    Leviticus 26:8
    Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
  12. Cross References
    Judges 15:9
    Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi.
    Judges 15:14
    When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
  13. Cross References
    Psalms 3:7
    Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.
  14. Cross References
    Judges 15:17
    As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.
  15. Cross References
    Genesis 45:27
    But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
  16. Cross References
    Judges 13:1
    And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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