Judah’s Leadership against the Canaanites

1 After the death of Joshua,^(A) the Israelites enquired of the Lord,^(B) ‘Who will be the first to fight for us against the Canaanites? ’

² The Lord answered, ‘Judah^(C) is to go.^(D) I have handed the land over to him.’^(E)

³ Judah said to his brother Simeon, ‘Come with me to my allotted territory, and let’s fight against the Canaanites. I will also go with you to your allotted territory.’ So Simeon went with him.

⁴ When Judah attacked, the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites^(F) over to them. They struck down ten thousand men in Bezek.^{(G) 5} They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, fought against him, and struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites.

⁶ When Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.^{(H) 7} Adoni-bezek said, ‘Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps^[a] under my table. God has repaid me for what I have done.’ They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸ The men of Judah fought against Jerusalem, captured it, put it to the sword, and set the city on fire. ⁹ Afterwards, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites who were living in the hill country, the Negev, and the Judean foothills.^{[b] 10} Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron^(I) (Hebron was formerly named Kiriath-arba^(J)). They struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.^{(K) 11} From there they marched against the residents of Debir^(L) (Debir was formerly named Kiriath-sepher).

¹² Caleb^(M) said, ‘Whoever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah^(N) to him as a wife.’ ¹³ So Othniel^(O) son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother, captured it, and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah to him as his wife.

¹⁴ When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What do you want? ’ ¹⁵ She answered him, ‘Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev,^(P) give me springs also.’ So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.^(Q)

¹⁶ The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’s father-in-law,^(R) had gone up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms^[c](S) to the Wilderness of Judah, which was in the Negev of Arad.^(T) They went to live among the people.

¹⁷ Judah went with his brother Simeon, struck the Canaanites who were living in Zephath, and completely destroyed the town. So they named the town Hormah.^{(U) 18} Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory. ¹⁹ The Lord was with^(V) Judah and enabled them to take possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out^(W) the people who were living in the plain because those people had iron chariots.^(X)

²⁰ Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised.^(Y) Then Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak^(Z) who lived there.

Benjamin’s Failure

²¹ At the same time the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites have lived among the Benjaminites in Jerusalem to this day.^(AA)

Success of the House of Joseph

²² The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with^(AB) them. ²³ They sent spies to Bethel (the town was formerly named Luz^(AC)). ²⁴ The spies saw a man coming out of the town and said to him, ‘Please show us how to get into the town, and we will show you kindness.’^{(AD) 25} When he showed them the way into the town, they put the town to the sword but released the man and his entire family. ²⁶ Then the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a town, and named it Luz. That is its name still today.

Failure of the Other Tribes

²⁷ At that time Manasseh failed to take possession of Beth-shean^(AE) and Taanach^(AF) and their surrounding villages, or the residents of Dor,^(AG) Ibleam,^(AH) and Megiddo^(AI) and their surrounding villages; the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land.^{(AJ) 28} When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labour but never drove them out completely.^(AK)

²⁹ At that time Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived among them in Gezer.^(AL)

³⁰ Zebulun failed to drive out the residents of Kitron or the residents of Nahalol,^(AM) so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced labour.

³¹ Asher failed to drive out the residents of Acco or of Sidon, or Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. ³² The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out.

³³ Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labour.

³⁴ The Amorites^(AN) forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to go down into the valley. ³⁵ The Amorites were determined to stay in Har-heres, Aijalon,^(AO) and Shaalbim. When the house of Joseph got the upper hand, the Amorites were made to serve as forced labour. ³⁶ The territory of the Amorites extended from the Scorpions’ Ascent,^(AP) that is from Sela^(AQ) upwards.

Pattern of Sin and Judgement

2 The angel of the Lord^(AR) went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, ‘I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land^(AS) I had promised to your ancestors.^(AT) I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. ² You are not to make a covenant^(AU) with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars.^(AV) But you have not obeyed me. What have you done? ³ Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you.^(AW) They will be thorns^[d] in your sides,^(AX) and their gods will be a trap for you.’^{(AY) 4} When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ⁵ So they named that place Bochim^[e] and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

Joshua’s Death

⁶ Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.^{(AZ) 7} The people worshipped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works^(BA) he had done for Israel.

⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. ⁹ They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,^(BB) north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord^(BC) or the works he had done for Israel.

¹¹ The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.^(BD) They worshipped the Baals^{(BE) 12} and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples^(BF) and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord,^{(BG) 13} for they abandoned him and worshipped Baal and the Ashtoreths.^(BH)

¹⁴ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold^(BI) them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them^(BJ) and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them.^(BK) So they suffered greatly.

¹⁶ The Lord raised up^(BL) judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, ¹⁷ but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted^(BM) themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way^(BN) of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their ancestors did. ¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with^(BO) him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. ¹⁹ Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly^(BP) than their ancestors, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate^(BQ) ways.

²⁰ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he declared, ‘Because this nation has violated my covenant^(BR) that I made with their ancestors^(BS) and disobeyed me, ²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left^(BT) when he died.^{(BU) 22} I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the Lord’s way^(BV) by walking in it, as their ancestors had.’^{(BW) 23} The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

The Lord Tests Israel

3 These are the nations the Lord left in order to test all those in Israel who had experienced none of the wars in Canaan.^{(BX) 2} This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. ³ These nations included the five rulers^(BY) of the Philistines^(BZ) and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians,^(CA) and the Hivites^(CB) who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.^{[f] 4} The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands he had given their ancestors through Moses.^{(CC) 5} But they settled among the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁶ The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshipped their gods.^(CD)

Othniel, the First Judge

⁷ The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; they forgot the Lord their God^(CE) and worshipped the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to King Cushan-rishathaim^[g] of Aram-naharaim,^[h](CF) and the Israelites served him for eight years.

⁹ The Israelites cried out to the Lord.^(CG) So the Lord raised up Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother,^(CH) as a deliverer^(CI) to save the Israelites. ¹⁰ The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel. Othniel went out to battle, and the Lord handed over King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram to him, so that Othniel overpowered him. ¹¹ Then the land had peace for^(CJ) forty years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

¹² The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He gave King Eglon of Moab^(CK) power over Israel, because they had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹³ After Eglon convinced the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join forces with him, he attacked and defeated Israel and took possession of the City of Palms.^{[i](CL) 14} The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

¹⁵ Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed^(CM) Benjaminite,^[j] as a deliverer for them. The Israelites sent him with the tribute^(CN) for King Eglon of Moab.

¹⁶ Ehud made himself a double-edged sword forty-five centimetres long.^[k] He strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes ¹⁷ and brought the tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was an extremely fat man. ¹⁸ When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had carried it. ¹⁹ At the carved images near Gilgal he returned and said, ‘King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.’ The king said, ‘Silence! ’ and all his attendants left him. ²⁰ Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his upstairs room where it was cool. Ehud said, ‘I have a message from God for you,’ and the king stood up from his throne. ²¹ Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. ²² Even the handle went in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And the waste came out.^{[l] 23} Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him.

²⁴ Ehud was gone when Eglon’s servants came in. They looked and found the doors of the upstairs room locked and thought he was relieving himself^[m] in the cool room. ²⁵ The servants waited until they became embarrassed and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened the doors – and there was their lord lying dead on the floor!

²⁶ Ehud escaped while the servants waited. He passed the Jordan near the carved images and reached Seirah. ²⁷ After he arrived, he sounded the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hill country, and he became their leader. ²⁸ He told them, ‘Follow me, because the Lord has handed over your enemies, the Moabites, to you.’ So they followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.^{(CO) 29} At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all stout and able-bodied men. Not one of them escaped. ³⁰ Moab became subject to Israel that day, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹ After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath became judge. He also delivered Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with a cattle prod.

Deborah and Barak

4 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. ² So the Lord sold them to King Jabin^(CP) of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.^(CQ) The commander of his army was Sisera^(CR) who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.^{[n] 3} Then the Israelites cried out^(CS) to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he had harshly oppressed them for twenty years.

⁴ Deborah, a prophetess^(CT) and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to settle disputes.^(CU)

⁶ She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, ‘Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel,^(CV) commanded you, “Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor,^(CW) and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites^(CX) and Zebulunites?^{(CY) 7} Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon^(CZ) to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.” ’^(DA)

⁸ Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.’

⁹ ‘I will gladly go with you,’ she said, ‘but you will receive no honour on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman.’ So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the sons of Hobab,^(DB) Moses’s father-in-law,^(DC) and pitched his tent beside the oak tree of Zaanannim,^(DD) which was near Kedesh.

¹² It was reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor. ¹³ Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the troops who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations to the Wadi Kishon. ¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you? ’ So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

¹⁵ The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into a panic^(DE) before Barak’s assault. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶ Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, ‘Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.’ So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹ He said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.’ She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. ²⁰ Then he said to her, ‘Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, “Is there a man here? ” say, “No.” ’ ²¹ While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife, Jael, took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.

²² When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, ‘Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.’ So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

²³ That day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴ The power of the Israelites continued to increase against King Jabin of Canaan until they destroyed him.

Birth of Samson

13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,^(A) so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years. ² There was a certain man from Zorah,^(B) from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. ³ The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer,^(C) or to eat anything unclean;^{(D) 5} for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair,^[a] because the boy will be a Nazirite^(E) to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.’

⁶ Then the woman went and told her husband, ‘A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. ⁷ He said to me, “You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.” ’

⁸ Manoah prayed^(F) to the Lord and said, ‘Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.’

⁹ God listened^(G) to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband, Manoah, was not with her. ¹⁰ The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, ‘The man who came to me the other day has just come back! ’

¹¹ So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, ‘Are you the man who spoke to my wife? ’

‘I am,’ he said.

¹² Then Manoah asked, ‘When your words come true, what will be the boy’s responsibilities and work? ’

¹³ The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, ‘Your wife needs to do everything I told her. ¹⁴ She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.’

¹⁵ ‘Please stay here,’ Manoah told him, ‘and we will prepare a young goat^(H) for you.’

¹⁶ The angel of the Lord said to him, ‘If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.’ (Manoah did not know he was the angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to him, ‘What is your name, so that we may honour you when your words come true? ’

¹⁸ ‘Why do you ask my name,’ the angel of the Lord asked him, ‘since it is beyond understanding?’^(I)

¹⁹ Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, who did something miraculous^[b] while Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰ When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell face down on the ground. ²¹ The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realised that it was the angel of the Lord.

²² ‘We’re certainly going to die,’ he said to his wife, ‘because we have seen God! ’^(J)

²³ But his wife said to him, ‘If the Lord had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and he would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us like this.’

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.^(K) The boy grew,^(L) and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in the Camp of Dan,^[c] between Zorah and Eshtaol.^(M)

Samson’s Riddle

14 Samson went down to Timnah^(N) and saw a young Philistine woman there. ² He went back and told his father and his mother, ‘I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.’

³ But his father and mother said to him, ‘Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife? ’

But Samson told his father, ‘Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.’ ⁴ Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord,^(O) who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation.^[d] At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.

⁵ Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, ⁶ the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on^(P) him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson.

⁸ After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. ⁹ He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.^(Q)

¹⁰ His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. ¹¹ When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty men to accompany him.

¹² ‘Let me tell you a riddle,’^(R) Samson said to them. ‘If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and work it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. ¹³ But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.’

‘Tell us your riddle,’ they replied.^[e] ‘Let’s hear it.’

¹⁴ So he said to them:

After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. ¹⁵ On the fourth^[f] day they said to Samson’s wife, ‘Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us? ’

¹⁶ So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, ‘You hate me and don’t love me!^(S) You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.’

‘Look,’ he said,^[g] ‘I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you? ’

¹⁷ She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. ¹⁸ On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:

So he said to them:

¹⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, ²⁰ and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Samson’s Revenge

15 Later on, during the wheat harvest,^(T) 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.

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? ’

³ Samson said to them, ‘This time I will be blameless^(U) when I harm the Philistines.’ ⁴ So he went out and caught three hundred foxes.^(V) He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing corn of the Philistines. He burned the piles of corn and the standing corn as well as the vineyards and olive groves.^(W)

⁶ Then the Philistines asked, ‘Who did this? ’

They were told, ‘It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his companion.’ So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

⁷ Then Samson told them, ‘Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.’ ⁸ He tore them limb from limb^[h] and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

⁹ The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. ¹⁰ So the men of Judah said, ‘Why have you attacked us? ’

They replied, ‘We have come to tie Samson up and pay him back for what he did to us.’

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, ‘Don’t you realise that the Philistines rule us?^(X) What have you done to us? ’

‘I have done to them what they did to me,’ he answered.^[i]

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

Then Samson told them, ‘Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.’

¹³ ‘No,’ they said,^[j] ‘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^(Y) and led him away from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and the ropes that were on his arms and wrists became like burnt flax and fell off. ¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Then Samson said:

¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Jawbone Hill.^{[k] 18} He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord, ‘You have accomplished this great victory through your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? ’ 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.^(Z) That is why he named it Hakkore Spring,^[l] which is still in Lehi today. ²⁰ And he judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Samson and Delilah

16 Samson went to Gaza,^(AA) where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her. ² When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, ‘Let’s wait until dawn; then we will kill him.’ ³ But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. ⁵ The Philistine leaders^(AB) went to her and said, ‘Persuade him to tell you^[m] where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.’

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless? ’

⁷ Samson told her, ‘If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.’

⁸ The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. ⁹ While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here! ’^[n] But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, ‘You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up? ’

¹¹ He told her, ‘If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used,^(AC) I will become weak and be like any other man.’

¹² Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here! ’ But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, ‘You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.’

He told her, ‘If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom – ’^[o]

¹⁴ She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here! ’ He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.

¹⁵ ‘How can you say, “I love you,” ’^(AD) she told him, ‘when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great! ’

¹⁶ Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out,^{[p] 17} he told her the whole truth and said to her, ‘My hair has never been cut,^[q] because I am a Nazirite^(AE) to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.’

¹⁸ When Delilah realised that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: ‘Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.’ The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the silver with them.

¹⁹ Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. ²⁰ Then she cried, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here! ’ When he awoke from his sleep, he said, ‘I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^(AF)

Samson’s Defeat and Death

²¹ The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. ²² But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.

²³ Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon.^(AG) They rejoiced and said:

²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god^(AH) and said:

²⁵ When they were in good spirits,^[r] they said, ‘Bring Samson here to entertain us.’ So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.

²⁶ Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, ‘Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.’ ²⁷ The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. ²⁸ He called out to the Lord, ‘Lord God, please remember me.^(AI) Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.’ ²⁹ Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. ³⁰ Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

³¹ Then his brothers and his father’s whole family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel for twenty years.