Judges 15:11–20

¹¹So 3,000 men from Judah went to the cave in the cliff at Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines rule us? Why have you done this to us?” 

Samson replied, “I did to them what they did to me.” 

¹²So the men from Judah told him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” 

Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you won’t harm me yourselves.” 

¹³They told him, “We promise we’ll only tie you up and hand you over to them. We certainly won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff. 

¹⁴When he came to Lehi, the Philistines met him with shouts ⸤of triumph⸥. But the Lord’s Spirit came over him. The ropes on his arms became like strings burned in a fire, and those on his hands snapped. 

¹⁵Samson found the jawbone from a donkey that had just died. He picked it up and killed 1,000 men with it. ¹⁶Then Samson said, 

“With a jawbone from a donkey, 

I’ve made two piles of them. 

With a jawbone from a donkey, 

I’ve killed a thousand men.” 

¹⁷When he finished saying this, he threw the jawbone away. He called that place Ramath Lehi ^[Jawbone Hill^[. 

¹⁸Samson was very thirsty. So he called out to the Lord and said, “You have given me this great victory. But now I’ll die from thirst and fall into the power of godless men.” 

¹⁹So God split open the hollow place at Lehi, and water gushed out. Samson drank some water. Then he was refreshed and revived. So he called the place En Hakkore ^[Spring of the One Who Calls Out^[. It is still there at Lehi today. 

²⁰Samson judged Israel for 20 years during the time of the Philistines.