25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. CHAP. XIV. ND Samson went down to in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. f2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines now therefore get her for me to wife. 3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. o 10 ¶ So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. 11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought 12 ¶ And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: 13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. 14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. t 4 But his father and his mother 15 And it came to pass on the knew not that it was of the LORD, seventh day, that they said to Samthat he sought an occasion against son's wife, Entice thy husband, that the Philistines: for at that time the he may declare unto us the riddle, Philistines had dominion over Israel. lest we burn thee and thy father's f 5 Then went Samson down, and house with fire: have ye called us his father and his mother, to Tim- to take that we have? is it not so? nath, and came to the vineyards off 16 And Samson's wife wept beTimnath and behold, a young lion fore him and said, Thou dost but roared against him. m 6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. 7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. f 8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion. hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell i thee? 17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people. f 18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my 9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. riddle. g 9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. g 19 ¶ And the Spirit of the LORD he went down and dwelt in the top came upon him, and he went down of the rock Etam. to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. UT 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. 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. 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. f 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. 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. 13 And they spake unto him, say. f3 And Samson said concern-ing, No; but we will bind thee fast, ing them, Now shall I be more and deliver thee into their hand: blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. D4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a fire-brand in the midst between two tails. 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. f6¶ Then the Philistines said, Who f7 ¶ And Samson said unto them, 8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords. and brought him up from the rock. g 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. 15 And he found a new jaw-bone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. 16 And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. n 17 And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi. d 18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliver ance into the hand of thy servant :| ƒ 8 Then the lords of the Philisand now shall I die for thirst, and tines brought up to her seven green fall into the hand of the uncircum- withs, which had not been dried, cised? and she bound him with them. f 2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning when it is day we shall kill him. 9 (Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber.) And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. f 10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I wherewith thou mightest be bound. u 11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall 1 be weak, and be as another man. f 12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines g3 And Samson lay till midnight, be upon thee, Samson. (And there and arose at midnight, and took the were liers in wait abiding in the doors of the gate of the city, and chamber.) And he brake them from the two posts, and went away with off his arms like a thread. them, bar and all, and put them upon u 13 And Delilah said unto Samhis shoulders, and carried them up son, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, to the top of a hill that is before and told me lies: tell me wherewith Hebron. thou mightest be bound. And he g 4 And it came to pass after-said unto her, If thou weavest the ward, that he loved a woman in the seven locks of my head with the valley of Sorek, whose name was web. Delilab. f 14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15 ¶ And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. 16 And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; f 17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon my head; for 1 have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. ƒ 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their band." 19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. f 21 ¶ But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house. lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that 1 may lean upon them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women: and all the lords of the Philistines were there and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. f 28 And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. g 31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Esh 22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. c 23 Then the lords of the Philis-taol in the burying-place of Manoah tines gathered them together, for to his father. And he judged Israel offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon twenty years. their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Sam-g son our enemy into our hand. CHAP. XVII. Dere was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was 24 And when the people saw him, Micah, they praised their god for they f 2 And he said unto his mother, said, Our god hath delivered into The eleven hundred shekels of silour hands our enemy, and the de-ver that were taken from thee, about stroyer of our country; which slew which thou cursedst, and spakest of many of us. also in mine ears, behold, the silver f25 And it came to pass, when is with me; I took it. And his their hearts were merry, that they mother said, Blessed be thou of the said, Call for Samson that he may LORD my son. make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. 26 And Samson said unto the c 3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten that day all their inheritance had not image: now therefore I will restore fallen unto them among the tribes of it unto thee. Israel. c 4 Yet he restored the money untog 2 And the children of Dan sent his mother; and his mother took of their family five men from their two hundred shekels of silver, and coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image and they were in the house of Micah. and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. f 5 And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one 3 When they were by the house of his sons, who became his priest. of Micah, they knew the voice of 6 In those days there was no king the young man the Levite: and they in Israel, but every man did that turned in thither, and said unto him, which was right in his own eyes. Who brought thee hither? and f7¶ And there was a young man what makest thou in this place? and out of Beth-lehem-judah of the fa- what hast thou here? mily of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. g 8 And the man departed out of the city from Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9 And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. 10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. c 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. f 12 And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. CHAP. XVIII. fTN those days there was no king in Israel and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto 4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 6 And the priest said unto them Go in peace before the LORD is your way wherein ye go. g 7 ¶ Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. g 8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no |