1But it came to pass after a while , in the time of wheat harvest , that Samson visited his wife with a kid ; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber . But her father would not suffer him to go in . 2And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her ; therefore I gave her to thy companion : is not her younger sister fairer than she ? take her , I pray thee , instead of her . 3And Samson said unto them , This time shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines , when I do them a mischief . 4And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes , and took firebrands , and turned tail to tail , and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails . 5And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines , and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain , and also the oliveyards .
The Philistines' Retaliation
6Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this ? And they said, Samson , the son-in-law of the Timnite , because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion . And the Philistines came up , and burnt her and her father with fire. 7And Samson said unto them , If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you , and after that I will cease . 8And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter : and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam .
Samson's Defeat of the Philistines
9Then the Philistines went up , and encamped in Judah , and spread themselves in Lehi . 10And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us ? And they said, To bind Samson are we come up , to do to him as he hath done to us . 11Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam , and said to Samson , Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us ? what then is this that thou hast done unto us ? And he said unto them , As they did unto me , so have I done unto them . 12And they said unto him , We are come down to bind thee , that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines . And Samson said unto them , Swear unto me , that ye will not fall upon me yourselves . 13And 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 ropes , and brought him up from the rock . 14When he came unto Lehi , the Philistines shouted as they met him : and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him , and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands . 15And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass , and put forth his hand , and took it , and smote a thousand men therewith. 16And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass , heaps upon heaps , With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.
Samson's Thirst and God's Provision
17And it came to pass , when he had made an end of speaking , that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand ; and that place was called Ramath-lehi . 18And he was sore athirst , and called on Jehovah , and said , Thou hast given this great deliverance by the hand of thy servant ; and now shall I die for thirst , and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised . 19But God clave the hollow place that is in Lehi , and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk , his spirit came again , and he revived : wherefore the name thereof was called En-hakkore , which is in Lehi , unto this day . 20And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years .