15Later on—it was during the wheat harvest—Samson visited his bride, bringing a young goat. He said, "Let me see my wife—show me her bedroom." But her father wouldn't let him in.H3117H3117H2406H7105H8123H6485H802H1423H5795H559H935H802H2315H1H5414H9352He said, "I concluded that by now you hated her with a passion, so I gave her to your best man. But her little sister is even more beautiful. Why not take her instead?"H1H559H559H559H8130H8130H5414H4828H6996H269H28963Samson said, "That does it. This time when I wreak havoc on the Philistines, I'm blameless."H8123H559H6471H5352H6430H6213H74514Samson then went out and caught three hundred jackals. He lashed the jackals' tails together in pairs and tied a torch between each pair of tails.H8123H3212H3920H7969H3967H7776H3947H3940H6437H2180H2180H7760H259H3940H8432H8147H21805He then set fire to the torches and let them loose in the Philistine fields of ripe grain. Everything burned, both stacked and standing grain, vineyards and olive orchards—everything.H1197H3940H784H7971H7054H6430H1197H1430H7054H3754H21326The Philistines said, "Who did this?" They were told, "Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite who took his bride and gave her to his best man." The Philistines went up and burned both her and her father to death.H6430H559H6213H559H8123H2860H8554H3947H802H5414H4828H6430H5927H8313H1H7847Samson then said, "If this is the way you're going to act, I swear I'll get even with you. And I'm not quitting till the job's done!"H8123H559H518H6213H2063H5358H310H23088With that he tore into them, ripping them limb from limb—a huge slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave at Etam Rock.H5221H7785H5921H3409H1419H4347H3381H3427H5585H5553H58629The Philistines set out and made camp in Judah, preparing to attack Lehi (Jawbone).H6430H5927H2583H3063H5203H389610When the men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?" they said, "We're out to get Samson. We're going after Samson to do to him what he did to us."H376H3063H559H5927H559H631H8123H5927H6213H621311Three companies of men from Judah went down to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines already bully and lord it over us? So what's going on with you, making things even worse?" He said, "It was tit for tat. I only did to them what they did to me."H7969H505H376H3063H3381H5585H5553H5862H559H8123H3045H6430H4910H6213H559H6213H621312They said, "Well, we've come down here to tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines." Samson said, "Just promise not to hurt me."H559H3381H631H5414H3027H6430H8123H559H7650H629313"We promise," they said. "We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won't kill you." They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock.H559H559H631H631H5414H3027H4191H4191H631H8147H2319H5688H5927H555314As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of GOD came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands.H935H3896H6430H7321H7125H7307H3068H6743H5688H2220H6593H1197H784H612H4549H302715He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company.H4672H2961H3895H2543H7971H3027H3947H5221H505H37616And Samson said, With a donkey's jawbone I made heaps of donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I killed an entire company.H8123H559H3895H2543H2565H2565H3895H2543H5221H505H37617When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).H3615H1696H7993H3895H3027H7121H4725H743718Now he was suddenly very thirsty. He called out to GOD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Are you going to abandon me to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"H3966H6770H7121H3068H559H5414H1419H8668H3027H5650H4191H6772H5307H3027H618919So God split open the rock basin in Lehi; water gushed out and Samson drank. His spirit revived—he was alive again! That's why it's called En Hakkore (Caller's Spring). It's still there at Lehi today.H430H1234H4388H3895H3318H4325H8354H7307H7725H2421H7121H8034H5875H3896H311720Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.H8199H3478H3117H6430H6242H8141
Prayer Tents is a Christian mission organization that serves Christians around the world and their local bodies to make disciples ("evangelize") more effectively in their communities. Prayer Tents provides resources to enable Christians to form discipleship-focused small groups and make their gatherings known so that other "interested" people may participate and experience Christ in their midst. Our Vision is to make disciples in all nations through the local churches so that anyone seeking God can come to know Him through relationships with other Christians near them.
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