Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines

15 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest,g Samsonh took a young goati and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.”j But her father would not let him go in.

2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion.k Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”

3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxesl and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torchm to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torchesn and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shockso and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.p”

So the Philistines went up and burned herq and her father to death.r 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rocks of Etam.t

9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.u 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”

“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”

11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us?v What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”