Judges 12 - 14
Jephthah Fights Ephraim
12Then the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed 1to Zaphon and asaid to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon, but did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you.” 2Then Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon. And I cried out to you, but you did not save me from their hand. 3“And I saw that you would not save me, so I 1,atook my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” 4Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim down because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, O Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” 5And the Gileadites acaptured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6then they would say to him, “Say now, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not 1pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim.
7And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon Judge Israel
8Then Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him. 9And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he 1gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.
11Then Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; and he judged Israel ten years. 12And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
13Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him. 14And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel eight years. 15Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
The Birth of Samson
13Then the sons of Israel aagain did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so that Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2And there was a certain man of aZorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. 3aThen the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you 1shall be with child and give birth to a son. 4“So now, be careful anot to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. 5“aFor behold, you 1shall be with child and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a bNazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “aA man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7“And he said to me, ‘Behold, you 1shall be with child and give birth to a son, so now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, and you shall not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
8Then Manoah entreated Yahweh and said, “O Lord, please let athe man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may instruct us what to do for the boy who is to be born.” 9And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and athe angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, and she said to him, “Behold, athe man who came the other day to me has appeared to me.” 11Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you athe man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12So Manoah said, “Now your words will come to pass. What shall be the judgment governing the boy and his work?” 13So athe angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “bLet the woman be careful in all that I said. 14“She should not eat anything that comes from the avine, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her keep all that I commanded.”
15Then Manoah said to athe angel of Yahweh, “Please let us delay you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” 16And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Though you delay me, aI will not eat your 1food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh. 17Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “aWhat is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?” 18But the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is 1,awonderful?” 19So aManoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, and He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. 20Indeed, it happened when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife saw this, so they afell on their faces to the ground.
21Now the angel of Yahweh did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. aThen Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh. 22So Manoah said to his wife, “aWe will surely die, for we have seen God.” 23But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had desired to put us to death, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have ashown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”
24Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the achild grew up, and Yahweh blessed him. 25And athe Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in 1,bMahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Samson Takes a Philistine as His Wife
14Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2So he came back up and told his father and 1mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, take her for me as a wife.” 3But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your 1,arelatives, or among all 2our people, that you go to btake a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” 4However, his father and mother did not know that ait was of Yahweh, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. 6aAnd the Spirit of Yahweh 1came upon him mightily, so that bhe tore it as one tears a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7So he went down and spoke to the woman; and she was right in the eyes of Samson. 8Then he returned later to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. 9So he scraped 1the honey into his 2hands and went on, eating as he went. Then he went to his father and mother, and he gave some to them, and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
10Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men customarily did this. 11Now it happened that when they saw him, they took thirty companions to be with him. 12Then Samson said to them, “Let me now apropound a riddle to you; if you will indeed tell it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty bchanges of clothes. 13“But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Propound your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14So he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat,And out of the strong came something sweet.” But they could not tell the riddle in three days.
15Then it happened on the 1fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, “aEntice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, bor we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?” 16So Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “aYou only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people and have not told it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?” 17However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people. 18So the men of the city said to 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 to them,“If you had not plowed with my heifer,You would not have found out my riddle.”
19Then athe Spirit of Yahweh 1came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. 20But Samson’s wife was agiven to his companion who had been his 1friend.