Judges 15:11–20

¹¹And three thousand men of Judah go down unto the cleft of the rock Etam, and say to Samson, ‘Hast thou now known that the Philistines are rulers over us? and what is this thou hast done to us?’ And he saith to them, ‘As they did to me, so I did to them.’ ¹²And they say to him, ‘To bind thee we have come down—to give thee into the hand of the Philistines.’ And Samson saith to them, ‘Swear to me, lest ye fall upon me yourselves.’ ¹³And they speak to him, saying, No, but we certainly bind thee, and have given thee into their hand, and we certainly do not put thee to death;’ and they bind him with two thick bands, new ones, and bring him up from the rock. ¹⁴He hath come unto Lehi—and the Philistines have shouted at meeting him—and the Spirit of Jehovah prospereth over him, and the thick bands which are on his arms are as flax which they burn with fire, and his bands are wasted from off his hands, ¹⁵and he findeth a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, and putteth forth his hand and taketh it, and smiteth with it—a thousand men. ¹⁶And Samson saith, ‘With a jaw-bone of the ass—an ass upon asses—with a jaw-bone of the ass I have smitten a thousand men.’ ¹⁷And it cometh to pass when he finisheth speaking, that he casteth away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and calleth that place Ramath-Lehi.

¹⁸And he thirsteth exceedingly, and calleth unto Jehovah, and saith, ‘Thou—Thou hast given by the hand of Thy servant this great salvation; and now, I die with thirst, and have fallen into the hand of the uncircumcised.’ ¹⁹And God cleaveth the hollow place which is in Lehi, and waters come out of it, and he drinketh, and his spirit cometh back, and he reviveth; therefore hath one called its name ‘The fountain of him who is calling,’ which is in Lehi unto this day. ²⁰And he judgeth Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Chapter 16