20 thy land unto my place. But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his 'border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, 21 and fought against Israel. And the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that coun

try. And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. °So now the LORD, the God of Israel, hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess them? Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God hath dispossessed from before us, them will 25 we possess. And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight 26 against them? °While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her 1towns, and in Aroer and her 1towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of Arnon, three hundred years; wherefore did ye not recover them within that time? 27 I therefore have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon. 28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the 30 children of Ammon. "And Jephthah

vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed' deliver the chil(31 dren of Ammon into mine 'hand', then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a 32 burnt offering. So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD 33 delivered them into his hand.

1 Heb. daughters. Or, whosoever\

And

34

he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto Abel-cheramim', with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

And Jephthah came to Mizpah unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances and she was his only child; beside her he had 35 neither son nor daughter. "And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot

(36 go back. And she said unto him, My father, thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD; do unto me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine effemies, even of the children of Am37) mon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may depart and go down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my com38 panions. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she 'departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity 39 upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she had not known man. And it was a custom 40 in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

121

And the men of Ephraim ¡werel gathered together, and 'passed! northward; and they said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with 2 fire. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye 'saved me not 3 out of their 'hand'. "And when I saw that ye saved me not, I put my life in my 'hand', and passed over against

the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? 4) Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, 'Ye are fugitives of Ephraim, ye Gileadites, 'in the midst of Ephraim', (5 and in the midst of Manasseh'. And the Gileadites took the 'fords of Jordan against the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he 6 said, Nay; then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right; then they laid hold on him, and slew him at the 'fords of Jordan: and there fell at that time of 'Ephraim' forty and two thousand.

11

And after him Elon 'the Zebulunite! judged Israel; and he judged Israel 12 ten years. And Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 And he had forty sons and thirty 'sons' sons', that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Is15 rael eight years. And Abdon the

son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country' of the Amalekites.

131) And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his 3 wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a 4 son. "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 5 °for, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head: for the child shall be a 21 Nazirite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to 'save! Israel out 6 of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very terrible; and I asked him not whence he was, neither told 7 he me his name: but he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb (8 to the day of his death. Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, Oh Lord, I pray thee', let the man of God whom thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall 9 be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her 10 husband was not with her. And the woman made haste, and ran, and 'told' her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. 11 And Manoah 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 *12 said, I am. And Manoah said,

Now let thy words come to pass: what shall be the manner of the child, and what shall be his work? 13 °And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the 14 woman let her beware. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or

5 Or, how shall we do unto him Or, \grape\-vine See Num. vi. 4.

strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let 15 her observe. And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, 'that' we may make 16 ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt make ready a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was 'the angel of 17 the LORD. And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy 'words' come to (18 pass we may do thee honour? And

the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore askest thou after my 19 name, seeing it is wonderful!? °So Manoah took the kid with 'the meal' offering, and offered it upon the rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and (his wife looked on. °For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and 'they' fell on their faces to the ground. But the

angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah lor to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, (because we have seen God. °But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meal' offering at our 'hand', neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would at this time have 24 told such things as these. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, (and the LORD blessed him. And the spirit of the LORD began to move him in Mahaneh'-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

141 And Samson went down to 'Timnah', and saw a woman in 'Timnah' of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in 'Timnahꞌ of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get 3 her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there

1 Or, secret

2 Heb. Shimshon.

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 4 well. "But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD; 'for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel.

5

And

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to 'Timnah', and came to the vineyards of Timnah' and, behold, a young lion roared 6 against him. 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 7 what he had done. And he went down, and talked with the woman; 8) and she pleased Samson well. after a while he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body' of 9) the lion, and honey. And he took it into his hands, and went on, eating las he went, and he came to his father and mother, and gave unto them, and they did eat: but he told them not that he had taken the honey 10 out of the body of the lion. And his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions (12 to be with him. And Samson said unto them, 'Let me now put forth a riddle unto you: if lyel can declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty 13 changes of 'raiment: but if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment'. And they said unto him, Put forth thy 14 riddle, that we may hear it. 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 15 declare the riddle. "And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they

The Sept. and Syriac have, fourth.

said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to impoverish us? is it (16 not so? And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but 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 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 'pressed him sore and she told the riddle to the 18 children of her people. 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. 19 And the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and 'smotel thirty men of them, and took their 2spoil, and gave the changes of 'raiment unto them that declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he 20 went up to his father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

15(1) But it came to pass after a while,

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 2 would not suffer him to go in. 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 (3 of her. °And Samson said unto' them, 'This time shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, 4 when I do them a mischief. And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails. 5)And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing

1 Or, take that we have 2 Or, apparel

corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing corn, and also the oliveyards'. 6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they said, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her 7) father with fire. And Samson said unto them, If ye do after this Imanner, surely! I will be avenged of 8 you, and after that I will cease. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock lof Etam.

9

Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread them10 selves in Lehi. "And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they said1, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him 11 as he hath done to us. "Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so 12 have I done unto them. 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 13 yourselves. And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new Iropes, and brought him up from the (14 rock. When he came unto Lehi, the

Philistines shouted as they met him: and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the 'ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands. *15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and 'smote a thousand men there16 with. And Samson said,

With the jawbone of an ass, heaps
upon heaps,

With the jawbone of an ass have
I 'smitten' a thousand men.

17) And it came to pass, when he had

made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath18 lehi. And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance by the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the 19) hand of the uncircumcised. °But

God clave 'the' hollow place that lis in Lehi, and there came water thereout and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore the name thereof 'was! called "En-hakkore, which is in Lehi, 20 unto this day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

161) And Samson went to Gaza, and

saw there an' harlot, and went in ? unto her. 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, Let be till morning light, 3 then we will kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked' them up, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain 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. 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 bind him to afflict him and we will give thee every one of us eleven hun6 dred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to 1 afflict thee. And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as 8 another man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven 'green withes which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9°Now she had liers' in wait abiding in

Or, he called that place

That is, The hill of the jawbone. Or, the jawbonel

Or, he called the name thereof

So

the inner chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withes, as a string of tow is broken when it 10toucheth the fire. So his 10 strength was not known. And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith 11 thou mightest be bound. oAnd he said unto her, If they only bind me with new ropes wherewith no work hath been done, then shall I become! 12) weak, and be as another man. Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And the liers in wait were abiding in the inner chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like 13 a thread. And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. (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 'plucked' away the pin of the beam, and 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 (16 strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul 17 was vexed unto death. And he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazirite 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. 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 told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought the money in 19 their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for 12a man, and shaved off the seven locks

9 Or, new bowstrings! 10 Heb. smelleth.

11 Or, according to another reading, he had told her

12 Or, the men

XVI. 1 Then..a; 2 In the.. when