Some time had passed, and they were cutting the wheat already, when Samson went to visit his wife, bringing a kid from his herd as a present to her. But now her father would not let him pass into her inner room, as his wont had been;

Why, he said, I thought past all doubt thou hadst grown weary of her, so I gave her in marriage to one of thy friends. But there is a younger sister of hers, and a fairer still; she shall be thy wife instead.

From this day onward, Samson answered, the Philistines are to blame, not I, if I do them despite.

Away he went, and caught three hundred foxes; roped them, tail to tail, with fire-brands between,

and so turned them loose, with the fire-brands alight. Soon they were among the crops of the Philistines, which caught fire, stooks and standing corn alike, and set fire in their turn to olive-yard and vineyard.

When the Philistines enquired about the author of this, they were told how Samson’s wife had been taken from him and given to one of his friends, and this was his revenge on his father-in-law. Whereupon they made their way to Thamnatha, and burned both the woman and her father alive.

Well, said Samson, you have had your way, but I will make you suffer for it before I have done with you;

and with that he made such a massacre that all sat huddled in fear of him.✻

Then he left them, and went to live in a cave on the Rock of Etam.

And now the Philistines invaded Juda, encamping, with little order, about the place afterwards called Lechi, the Jaw-bone;

and when the men of Juda asked on what errand they came, they said they had come to make Samson prisoner, and take vengeance on him for all the ill he had done them.

So three thousand men of Juda went to the cave on the Rock of Etam; What are these wild doings of thine? they asked Samson. Dost thou not know that the Philistines have the upper hand of us? Nay, said he, I did but serve them as they served me first.

Our purpose, they said, is to hand thee over bound to the Philistines. Swear to me then, answered Samson, that you will not kill me yourselves.

Kill thee? said they. No, we will not kill thee; we will hand thee over as a prisoner. So bound he was, with two new ropes, and carried away from the Rock of Etam.

Loud was the Philistines’ cry of triumph that went up to meet him at Lechi; but suddenly the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and his bonds parted and snapped like scorched tow.

No weapon had he, but he found a bone lying there, an ass’s jaw-bone; took that instead, and killed a thousand men with it.

With the bone of an ass, he cried, I have made bones of them; with the bone of an ass a thousand men lie slain.✻

This song sung, he threw the jaw-bone away; and the name he gave to the place was Ramath-Lechi, the Brandishing of the Jaw-bone.

But now he was thirsty, and made his complaint to the Lord, Here is a servant of thine, whom thou hast used to win a great victory, a great deliverance, and dying of thirst! Wilt thou leave me, after all, at the mercy of men uncircumcised?

And at that, the Lord made the hollow cleft which is called the Tooth of the Jaw-bone, and water came out of it;✻ so he drank, and his spirits revived, and his strength returned to him. The place has been called the Praying Well of Lechi ever since.

For twenty years after that, while the Philistine troubles lasted, Samson was ruler of Israel.