| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1A 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. | 1Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father, "I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!" But her father would not let him enter. |
| 2Her 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." | 2Her father said, "I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!" |
| 3Samson replied to them, "This time I'll be blameless when I do something evil to the Philistines." | 3Samson said to them, "This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!" |
| 4So 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. | 4Samson went and captured three hundred jackals and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair. |
| 5Then 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. | 5He lit the torches and set the jackals loose in the Philistines' standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. |
| 6Then 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. | 6The Philistines asked, "Who did this?" They were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because the Timnite took Samson's bride and gave her to his best man." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. |
| 7Samson replied to them, "Because you did this, I'm not going to stop until I get my revenge against you!" | 7Samson said to them, "Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting." |
| 8So he attacked them ruthlessly in a massive slaughter, then left to live in the caves of Etam. | 8He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam. |
| 9In response, the Philistines went up, encamped in the territory of Judah, and raided Lehi. | 9The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi. |
| 10The 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." | 10The men of Judah said, "Why are you attacking us?" The Philistines said, "We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us." |
| 11In 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. | 11Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?" He said to them, "I have only done to them what they have done to me." |
| 12They 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." | 12They said to him, "We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Promise me you will not kill me." |
| 13So 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. | 13They said to him, "We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you." They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff. |
| 14When 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. | 14When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the LORD's spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands. |
| 15He happened upon a jawbone from a putrefying donkey, reached out to grab it, and killed 1,000 men with it. | 15He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. |
| 16Then 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." | 16Samson then said, "With the jawbone of a donkey I have left them in heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men!" |
| 17When he finally finished bragging, he discarded the jawbone and named that place "Jawbone Heights." | 17When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down and named that place Ramath Lehi. |
| 18Aferward, 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?" | 18He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the LORD and said, "You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?" |
| 19So 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. | 19So God split open the basin at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring En Hakkore. It remains in Lehi to this very day. |
| 20Samson governed Israel for twenty years during the Philistine domination. | 20Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence. |
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