Ephramites slain.

JUDGES.

Manoan sees an angel. 5 And the Gileadites took the passa-jand drink not wine uor strong drink, ges of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and eat not any unclean thing: and it was so, that when those Eph- 6 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and rainuites which were escaped, said, bear a son; and no razor shall come on Let me go over; that the men of Gil-his head: for the child shall be a Nazead said unto him, drt thou an Eph-arite unto God from the womb; and raim te? If he said, Nay; he shall begin to deliver Israel out of

6 Tuen said they unto him, Say now the hand of the Philistines. Shibboleth; and he said, Sibboleth: 6 ¶ Then the woman came and told for he could not frame to pronounce it her husband, saying, A man of God right. Then they took him, and slew came unto me, and his countenance him at the passage of Jordan: and was like the countenance of an angel there fell at that time of the Ephraim-[of God, very terrible: but I asked him ites forty and two thousand. not whence he was, neither told he me his name:

7 ¶ And Jephthah judged Israel six years: then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

8 ¶ And after him Ibzan of Beth-lebem judged Israel.

7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from 9 And he had thirty sons and thirty the womb to the day of his death. daughters, whom he sent abroad, and 8 T Then Manoal entreated the took in thirty daughters from abroad LORD, and said, O my LORD, let the for his sons: and he judged Israel sev-man of God which thou didst send, en years. come again unto us, and teach us what

10 Then died Ibzan, and was buried we shall do unto the child that shall at Beth-lehem. be born. 11 T And after him Elon, a Zebulo-| 9 And God hearkened to the voice of nite judged Israel: and he judged 13-Manoah; and the angel of God came rael ten years. again unto the woman as she sat in 12 And Elon the Zebulonite died, and the field: but Manoah her husband was buried in Ajalon, in the country of Zebulun.

13 ↑ And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. 14 And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass-colts and he judged 1srael] eight years.

15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.

CHAP. XIII.

was not with her.

and

10 And the woman made haste, ran, and shewed her husbaud, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.

11 And Manoab arose,and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, Lam.

12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child ? and how shall we do

AND the children of Israel did evil unto him?

the woman let her beware.

14 She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink,nor eat any unclean thing all that I commanded

again in the sight of the LORD; 13 And the angel of the LORD said and the LORD delivered them into the unto Manoab, Öf all that I said unto hand of the Philistines forty years. 2 T And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Dauites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. 3 And the angel of the LORD appear-her let her observe. ed unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a sou.

Now therefore oeware, I pray thee,

15 ¶ And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 16 And the angel of the LORD said

CHAP. XIV.

Samson's riddle. unto Manor h, Though thou detain me.| father, Gether for me; for she pleaseth I will not eat of thy bread: and if me well.

thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou But his father and his mother knew must offer it unto the LORD. For Ma- not that it was of the LORD, that be noah knew not that he was an angel sought an occasion against the Philisof the LORD. tines; for at that time the Philistines bad dominion over Israel. and 6 T Then went Samson down, his father and his mother,to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

6 And the Spirit of the Loan came 19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat-mightily upon him, and he rent him offering, and offered it upon a rock as he would have rent a kid, and he unto the LORD: and the angel did had nothing in his hand: but he told wondrously, and Manoah and bis wife not his father or his mother what be looked on.

nath, and saw a woman in Tim-thirty change of garments. And they nath of the daughters of the Philistines. said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, 2 And be came up and told his father that we may bear it. and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timinath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.

Samson is

JUDGES.

denied his wife. have ye called us to take that we have?¡corn, with the vineyards and olives. is it not so ? 6 ¶ Then the Philistines said, Who 16 And Samson's wife wept before hath done this? And they answered, bim, and said, Thou dost but hate me, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth because he had taken his wife, and a riddle unto the children of my peo-given her to his companion. And the ple, and hast not told it me. And he Philistines came up, and burnt her said unto her, Behold, I have not told and her father with fire.

it my father nor my mother, and shall 7 T And Samson said unto them, I tell it thee? Though ye have done this, yet will i 17 And she wept before him the sev-be avenged of you, and after that I en days, while their feast lasted: and will cease. 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.

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 plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

9 T Then the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah, und spread themselves in Lehi.

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.

19 And the Spirit of the LonD came upon him, and he went down to Ash- 11 Then three thousand men of Judah kelon, and slew thirty men of them, went to the top of the rock Etam, and and took their spoil, and gave change said to Samson, Knowest thou not that of garments unto them which expound the Philistines are rulers over us? what ed the riddle. And his anger was kin-is this that thou hast done unto us? dled, and he went up to his father's house.

20 But Samson's wife was given to bis companion,whom he had used as his friend.

B

CHAP. XV.

And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12 And they said unto bán, 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

UT it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat-har-Jupon me yourselves. vest, that Samson visited his wife with 13 And they spake unto him, saying, a kid; and be said, I will go in to my No; but we will bind thee fast, and wife into the chamber. But her father deliver thee into their band: but surewould not suffer him to go in. ly we will not kill thee. And they 2 And her father said, I verily thought bound him with two new cords, and that thou hadst utterly hated her;jbrought him up from the rock. therefore I gave her to thy companion: 14 T And when he came unto Lehi, is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

3 ¶ And Samson said concerning hein, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

the Philistines shouted against him and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the cords that were upon his aring 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

4 And Samson went and caught three nundred foxes, and took fire-brands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. 5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing thousand men. rora of the Philistines, and burnt up 17 And it came to pass, when he had both the shocks, and also the standing[made an end of speaking, that he cast

Delilah's falschood

CHAP. XVI.

to Samson. way the jaw-bone out of his hand, abiding with her in the chamber.} end called that place Ramath-lehi. And she said unto him, The Philistines 18 T And he was sore athirst, and be upon thee, Samson. And he brake called on the LORD, and said, Thou the withs as a thread of tow is broken hast given this great deliverance into when it toucheth the fire: so his the hand of thy servant; and now]strength was not known, shall I die for thirst, and fall into the 10 And Delilab said unto Samson, Be hand of the uncircumcised? hold, thou hast mocked me, and told 19 But God clave a hollow place that me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, was in the jaw, and there c_me water wherewith thou mightest be bound. thereout; and when he had drunk,] 11 And he said unto her, If they Sind his spirit came again, and be revived me fast with new ropes that never wherefore he called the name thereof were occupied, then shall I be weak, En-bakkore, which is in Lehi unto and be as another man. this day.

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. CHAP. XVI.

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. (And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber.) And he brake them from of his arma like a thread.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, 13 And Delilah said unto Sampson, Samson is come hither. And they Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and compassed him in, and laid wait for told me lies: tell me wherewith thou him all night in the gate of the city,mightest be bound. And he said unto and were quiet all the night, saying, her, If thou weavest the seven locks of In the morning, when it is day, we my head with the web. shall kill him.

3. And Saison lay till midnight, and rose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.

4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah,

14. And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistince be upon thee, Samson. And be awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15 T And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me ? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength vieth.

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,

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may 17 That he told her all his heart, and bind him to afflict him; and we will said unto her, There hath not come a give thee every one of us eleven hun-razor upon my head; for I have been dred pieces of silver. a Nazarite unto God from my moth

6 And Delilah said to Samson, Teller's womb; if I be shaven, then my me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength will go from me, and I shall strength lieth, and wherewith thou become weak, and be like any other mightest be bound to afflict thee. man. 7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be wenk, and be as another man,

18And when Delilan saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, say ing, Come up this once; for he hath 8 Then the lords of the Philistines shewed me all his heart. Then the brought up to her seven green withs lords of the Philistines came up unto which had not been dried, and she her,and brought money in their hand bound him with them. 19 And she made him sleep upon her 9 (Now there were men lying in wait,[knees: and she called for å mån, and

Slaughter of

him.

JUDGES.

the Philistines. she caused him to shave off the seven seif with all his might; and the house locks of his head; and she began to fell upon the lords, and upon all the afflict him, and his strength went from people that were therein: so the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. 31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father, caine down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah, and Eshtaol, in the burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, Iwill go out, as at other times before, and shake my self. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

21 T But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with

CHAP. XVII.
ND there was a man of mount

fetters of brass; and he did grind in A Ephraim, whose name was Mi

the prison-house.

22 Howbeit the hair of his head began cah. to grow again after he was shaven. 2 And he said unto his mother, The 23 T Then the lords of the Philistines eleven hundred shekels of silver that gathered them together, for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy in to our band.

were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lond, my sou. 24 And when the people saw him, 3 And when be bad restored the they praised their god; for they said, eleven hundred shekels of silver to his Our god hath delivered into our hands mother, his mother said, I had wholly our enemy, and the destroyer of our dedicated the silver unto the LORD country, which slew many of us, from my hand, for my son, to make a 25 And it came to pass, when their graven image and a molten image, hearts were merry, that they said, Call now therefore I will restore it unto or Samson, that he may make us thee.

sport. And they called for Samson out 4 Yet he restored the money unto his of the prison-house; and he made mother; and his mother took two them sport: and they set him between hundred shekels of silver, and gave the pillars.

26 T And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standetb, that I may lean upon them.

them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah. 3 ¶ And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod and tera phim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Phil- 6 In those days there was no king in istines were there: and there were up-Israel, but every man did that which on the roof about three thousand men was right in his own eyes.

and women, that bebeld while Sam- 7 And there was a young man out of son made sport. Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Ju28 And Sainson called unto the LORD, dab, who was a Levite; and he soand said, O LORD God, remember me, journed there.

I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray 8 And the man departed out of the thee, only this once, O God, that I city from Beth-lehem-judah,to sojourn may be at once avenged of the Philis-where he could find a place tines 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 haud, and of the other with his left.

30 And Samson said,Let me die with

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 Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

the Pailistines, and be beved in 10 and Micah said unto him, Dwell