Samson Defeats The Philistines

1 But it came to pass within some days 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 allow him to go in.

1 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife (A)with a young goat, and said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him enter.

1 But it came to pass within a while after, 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.

1 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.

1 A while later during the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife, bringing along a young goat, and told his father-in-law, "I'm going into my wife's room." But her father wouldn't give permission for him to go.

2 And her father said, I was persuaded that thou didst utterly hate her; therefore, I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

2 Her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I (B)gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister (a)more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours (b)instead.”

2 And 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.

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?”

2 Her father said, "Because I honestly thought that you hated her deeply, I gave her in marriage to your best man. Isn't her younger sister better than she? Please then, let her be yours instead."

3 And Samson replied unto them, Now I shall be blameless before the Philistines if I do them injury.

3 Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”

3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

3 Samson said to them, “This time I won’t be responsible(B) when I harm the Philistines.”

3 Samson replied to them, "This time I'll be blameless when I do something evil to the Philistines."

4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turning them tail to tail, he put a torch between every two tails.

4 Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails.

4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

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.

4 So Samson went out, caught 300 foxes, grabbed some torches, tied the foxes together in pairs at their tails, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.

5 Then, setting the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines and burnt up both the shocks and also the standing grain with the vineyards and oliveyards.

5 When he had set fire to the torches, he released (c)the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning up both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves.

5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

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)

5 Then he ignited the torches, set the foxes loose into the Philistines' unharvested grain, and burned up both the harvested shocks and the standing grain, along with their vineyards and olive groves.

6 Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with fire.

6 Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because (d)he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and (C)burned her and her father with fire.

6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

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.

6 Then the Philistines demanded, "Who did this?" Someone said, "Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because his father-in-law took Samson's wife and gave her to the best man at Samson's wedding." In retaliation, the Philistines came up and burned her and her father to death.

7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

7 Samson said to them, “Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit.”

7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

7 Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.”

7 Samson replied to them, "Because you did this, I'm not going to stop until I get my revenge against you!"

8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter, and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock Etam.

8 He struck them (e)ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

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.

8 So he attacked them ruthlessly in a massive slaughter, then left to live in the caves of Etam.

Samson Defeats The Philistines

9 Then the Philistines went up and pitched camp in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi.

9 Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

9 The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi.

9 In response, the Philistines went up, encamped in the territory of Judah, and raided Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said, Why have ye come up against us? And they answered, We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.

10 The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.”

10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

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.”

10 The leading men of Judah asked, "Why have you invaded us?" They replied, "We're here to arrest Samson. Then we're going to do to him what he did to us."

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cleft of the rock Etam and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

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 (D)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 I have done to them.”

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

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)

11 In response, 3,000 soldiers from the tribe of Judah went down to the caves of the rock of Etam and asked Samson, "Don't you know that the Philistines have us in their control? What have you done to us?" "I did to them what they did to me," he answered.

12 And they said unto him, We have come 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.

12 They said to him, “We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not (f)kill me.”

12 And 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.

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.”

12 They responded, "We've come here to arrest you and transfer you to the custody of the Philistines." Samson told them, "Promise me that you won't kill me."

13 And they answered him, saying, No, we will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hands; but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords and brought him up from the rock.

13 So they said to (g)him, “No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you.” Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

13 And 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 cords, and brought him up from the rock.

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.

13 So they said, "No, we won't. But we're going to tie you up securely and transfer you to their custody. But we won't kill you." Then they bound him with two ropes and brought him up from the caves.

14 And when he came unto Lehi, , the Philistines received him with shouts; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And (E)the Spirit of the Lord (h)came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds (i)dropped from his hands.

14 And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

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.

14 When Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, so that the ropes that bound him were like flax that's been burned by fire, and his bonds dissolved.

15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass and put forth his hand and took it and slew a thousand men with it.

15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he (j)reached out and took it and (k)killed (F)a thousand men with it.

15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed 1,000 men with it.

15 He happened upon a jawbone from a putrefying donkey, reached out to grab it, and killed 1,000 men with it.

16 Then Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, one heap, two heaps; with the jaw of an ass I have slain a thousand men.

16 Then Samson said,“With the jawbone of a donkey,(l)Heaps upon heaps,With the jawbone of a donkeyI have (m)killed a thousand men.”

16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

16 Then Samson said:With the jawbone of a donkeyI have piled them in a heap.With the jawbone of a donkeyI have killed 1,000 men.

16 Then Samson declared, "With a jawbone from the donkey here a heap, there a pair of heaps with the jawbone of the donkey I've killed 1,000 men."

17 And when he had finished speaking, he cast away the jawbone out of his hand and called that place Ramathlehi.

17 When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place (n)Ramath-lehi.

17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Ramath-lehi.(e)

17 When he finally finished bragging, he discarded the jawbone and named that place "Jawbone Heights."

18 And he was sore athirst and called on the LORD and said, Thou hast given this great salvation by the hand of thy slave; and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

18 Then he became very thirsty, and he (G)called to the Lord and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now (o)shall I die of thirst (p)and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

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?”

18 Aferward, he became thirsty, called out to the LORD, and told him, "So, you provided this great deliverance at the hands of your servant, but now I'm to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"

19 Then God broke a tooth that was in the jaw, and water came out there; and he drank, and recovered his spirit, and he lived. Therefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, , which is in Lehi unto this day.

19 But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, (H)his (q)strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it (r)En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

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.

19 So God split a hollow place that's in Lehi, and water sprang out of it. After he had taken a drink, his strength returned, and he revived. That's why it was named "En-hakkore," which is in Lehi to this day.

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

20 So (I)he judged Israel twenty years in (J)the days of the Philistines.

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

20 And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines.

20 Samson governed Israel for twenty years during the Philistine domination.

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