Judges 15

vayehi miyyamim bime qetsir-khittim vayyifqod shimshon et-ishto bigdi izzim vayyomer avo'ah el-ishti hekhaderah velo-netano aviha lavo

Some time later, in the season of the wheat harvest, Samson came to visit his wife, bringing a kid as a gift. He said, “Let me go into the chamber to my wife.” But her father would not let him go in.

vayyomer aviha amor amarti ki-sano senetah va'ettenennah lemere'ekha halo akhotah haqqetannah tovah mimmennah tehi-na lekha takhteha

“I was sure,” said her father, “that you had taken a dislike to her, so I gave her to your wedding companion. But her younger sister is more beautiful than she; let her become your wife instead.”

vayyomer lahem shimshon niqqeti happa'am mippelishtim ki-oseh ani immam ra'ah

Thereupon Samson declared, “Now the Philistines can have no claim against me for the harm I shall do them.”

vayyelekh shimshon vayyilkod shelosh-me'ot shu'alim vayyiqqakh lappidim vayyefen zanav el-zanav vayyasem lappid ekhad ben-shene hazzenavot battavekh

Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches and, turning [the foxes] tail to tail, he placed a torch between each pair of tails.

vayyaver-esh ballappidim vayeshallakh beqamot pelishtim vayyaver miggadish ve'ad-qamah ve'ad-kerem zayit

He lit the torches and turned [the foxes] loose among the standing grain of the Philistines, setting fire to stacked grain, standing grain, vineyards, [and] olive trees.

vayyomeru felishtim mi asah zot vayyomeru shimshon khatan hattimni ki laqakh et-ishto vayyittenah lemere'ehu vayya'alu felishtim vayyisrefu otah ve'et-aviha ba'esh

The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” And they were told, “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, who took Samson’s wife and gave her to his wedding companion.” Thereupon the Philistines came up and put her and her father to the fire.

vayyomer lahem shimshon im-ta'asun kazot ki im-niqqamti vakhem ve'akhar ekhdal

Samson said to them, “If that is how you act, I will not rest until I have taken revenge on you.”

vayyakh otam shoq al-yarekh makkah gedolah vayyered vayyeshev bisif sela etam

He gave them a sound and thorough thrashing. Then he went down and stayed in the cave of the rock of Etam.

vayya'alu felishtim vayyakhanu bihudah vayyinnateshu ballekhi

The Philistines came up, pitched camp in Judah and spread out over Lehi.

vayyomeru ish yehudah lamah alitem alenu vayyomeru le'esor et-shimshon alinu la'asot lo ka'asher asah lanu

Those on Judah’s side asked, “Why have you come up against us?” They answered, “We have come to take Samson prisoner, and to do to him as he did to us.”

vayyeredu sheloshet alafim ish mihudah el-se'if sela etam vayyomeru leshimshon halo yadata ki-moshelim banu pelishtim umah-zzot asita lanu vayyomer lahem ka'asher asu li ken asiti lahem

Thereupon three thousand Judahites went down to the cave of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “You knew that the Philistines rule over us; why have you done this to us?” He replied, “As they did to me, so I did to them.”

vayyomeru lo le'esorkha yaradnu letittekha beyad-pelishtim vayyomer lahem shimshon hishave'u li pen-tifge'un bi attem

“We have come down,” they told him, “to take you prisoner and to hand you over to the Philistines.” “But swear to me,” said Samson to them, “that you yourselves will not attack me.”

vayyomeru lo lemor lo ki-asor ne'esorkha unetannukha veyadam vehamet lo nemitekha vayya'asruhu bishnayim avotim khadashim vayya'aluhu min-hassala

“We won’t,” they replied. “We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them; we will not slay you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

hu-va ad-lekhi ufelishtim heri'u liqrato vattitslakh alayw ruakh Adonai vattihyenah ha'avotim asher al-zero'otayw kappishtim asher ba'aru va'esh vayyimmassu esurayw me'al yadayw

When he reached Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Thereupon the spirit of GOD gripped him, and the ropes on his arms became like flax that catches fire; the bonds melted off his hands.

vayyimtsa lekhi-khamor teriyyah vayyishlakh yado vayyiqqakheha vayyakh-bah elef ish

He came upon a fresh jawbone of a donkey and he picked it up; and with it he killed a thousand men.

vayyomer shimshon bilkhi hakhamor khamor khamoratayim bilkhi hakhamor hikketi elef ish

Then Samson said: “With the jaw of an ass, Mass upon mass! With the jaw of an ass I have slain a thousand men.”

vayehi kekhalloto ledabber vayyashlekh hallekhi miyyado vayyiqra lammaqom hahu ramat lekhi

As he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone away; hence that place was called Ramath-lehi.

vayyitsma me'od vayyiqra el-Adonai vayyomar attah natatta veyad-avdekha et-hatteshu'ah haggedolah hazzot ve'attah amut batsama venafalti beyad ha'arelim

He was very thirsty and he called to GOD, “You Yourself have granted this great victory through Your servant; and must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

vayyivqa elohim et-hammakhtesh asher-ballekhi vayyetse'u mimmennu mayim vayyesht vattashov rukho vayyekhi al-ken qara shemah en haqqore asher ballekhi ad hayyom hazzeh

So God split open the hollow that is at Lehi, and the water gushed out of it; he drank, regained his strength, and revived. That is why it is called to this day “En-hakkore of Lehi.”

vayyishpot et-yisra'el bime felishtim esrim shanah

He led Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.