| NET Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 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. | 1Later on, during the wheat harvest, 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." |
| 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!" | 2I 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?" |
| 3Samson said to them, "This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!" | 3Samson said to them, "This time I won't be responsible when I harm the Philistines." |
| 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. | 4So he went out and caught 300 foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. |
| 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. | 5Then 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. |
| 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. | 6Then 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. |
| 7Samson said to them, "Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting." | 7Then Samson told them, "Because you did this, I swear that I won't rest until I have taken vengeance on you." |
| 8He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam. | 8He tore them limb from limb with a great slaughter, and he went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam. |
| 9The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi. | 9The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. |
| 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." | 10So 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." |
| 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." | 11Then 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? What have you done to us?"" I have done to them what they did to me," he answered. |
| 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." | 12They 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."" |
| 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. | 13No," they said, "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 and led him away from the rock. |
| 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. | 14When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD took control of him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like burnt flax and his bonds fell off his wrists. |
| 15He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. | 15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed 1,000 men with it. |
| 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!" | 16Then Samson said: With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them in a heap. With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed 1,000 men. |
| 17When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down and named that place Ramath Lehi. | 17When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Ramath-lehi. |
| 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?" | 18He 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?" |
| 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. | 19So 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. That is why he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. |
| 20Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence. | 20And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines. |
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