Out of the eater came forth food, And out of the strong came forth sweetness.
And they could not in three days declare the riddle. 15And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they 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 hither to impoverish us?' 16And 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 peo- ple, and wilt thou not tell it me?' And he said unto her: 'Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell thee?' 17And she wept be- fore him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, be- cause she pressed him sore; and she told the riddle to the children of her >le. 18And the men of the city unto him on the seventh day t>efore 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.
^d the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and smote thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes of raiment unto them that declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. 20But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he lad had for his friend.
But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, ;hat Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said: 'I will go hi to my JUDGES JUDGES wife into the chamber/ But her father would not suffer him to go in. 2And her father said: 'I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; there- fore I gave her to thy companion; is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.' 3And Samson said unto them. 'This time shall I be quits with the Philistines, when I do them a mis- chief.' 4And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between every two tails. 5And when he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Phi- listines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing corn, and also the oliveyards. 6Then 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 father with fire. 7And Samson said unto them: 'If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.' 8And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
^Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread them- selves against Lehi. 10And the men of Judah said: 'Why are ye come up against us?' And they said: 'To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.' uThen 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 That is, The hitt of the jawbone.
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 yourselves.' "And they spoke 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 ropes, and brought him up from the rock. 14When 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 be- came as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands. 15And he found a new jaw- bone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thou- sand men therewith. 16And Samson said: With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men. 17And 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 'Ramath-lehi. 18And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said: 'Thou hast given this great de- hverance by the hand of Thy serv- ant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the un- circumcised?'. "But God cleaved the hollow place that is in Lehi, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came back, and he revived; wherefore the name thereof was called bEn-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. 20And he judged Israel in the days of the "^hiBstines twenty years.
IP P] b That is, The spring of him that called.
JUDGES "J Q And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her. 2[And it was told] the Ga- zites, saying ' Samson is come hither/ And they compassed him in, and lay in wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying: 'Let be till morning light, then we will kill him.' 3And 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.
4And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5And 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 inay bind him to afflict him; and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.' 6And Delilah said to Samson: 'Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.3 7And Samson said unto her: 'If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as any other man.' 8Then the lords of the Phi- listines brought uj) to her seven fresh bowstrings which ^ had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9Now she had liers-in-wait abiding in the inner chamber. And she said unto him: 'The Philistines are up- on thee, Samson.' And he broke the bowstrings as a string of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. 10And Delilah said unto Samson: 'Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies; now tell me, I pray thee, where- with thou mightest be bound/ "And he said unto her: 'If they only bind me with new ropes wherewith no work hath been done, then shall I become weak, and be as any other man.' ^So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him: 'The Philistines are upon thee, Samson/ And the liers-in- wait were abiding in the inner cham- ber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread. 13And 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/ 14And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him: 'The Philistines are upon thee, Samson/ And he awoke out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web. 15And 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 lieth/ lsAnd it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him., that his soul was vexed unto death. 17And he told her all his heart, and said unto her: 'There hath n*ot come a razor upon my 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/ 18And 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 onoe, for he hath told me all his heart/ Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought the money JUDGES in their hand. 19And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and had the seven locks of his head shaven off; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20And she said: 'The Philistines are upon thee, Samson.7 And he awoke out of his sleep, and said: 'I will go out as at other times, and shake myself/ But he knew not that the LORD was departed from him. 2IAnd the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house. ^Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
^And the lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to re j oice; for they said: ' Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.' MAnd when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: 'Our god hath delivered into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who hath slain many of us.' 26And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said: 'Call for Samson, that he may make us sport/ And they called for Samson out of the prison- Kbuse; and he made sport before them; and they set him between the pillars. 26And jSamson said unto the lad that held him, by the hand: ' Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house resteth, that I may lean upon them/ 27Now the house was full of men "and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thou- sand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. 28And Samson called unto the LORD, and said: 'O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, 0 God, that I may be this once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes/ 29And Samson took fast hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house rested, and leaned upon them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left. 30And Samson said: 'Let me die with the Philistines/ And he bent with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life. 31Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Ma- noah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years. 1 *7 Now there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2And he said unto his mother: 'The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst utter a curse, and didst also speak it in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it/ And his mother said: ' Bless- ed be my son of the LORD/ 3And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said: 'I verily dedicate the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore I will restore it unto thee/ 4And when he restored the money unto his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image; and it was in the house of Micah. BAnd the man Micah had a house of God, and he made an ephod. and teraphim, and conse- JUDGES crated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
7And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem in Judah — in the family of Judah — who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8And the man de- parted^out of the city, out of Beth- lehem in Judah, to sojourn where he could find a place; and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9And Micah said unto him: ' Whence com- est thou?' And he said unto him: 'I am a Levite of Beth-lehem in Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.' 10And Micah said unto him: 'Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals.7 So the Levite went in. uAnd the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. 12And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. "Then said Micah: 'Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite as my priest.'
"| Q In those days there was no king xu in Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day there had nothing been allotted unto them among the tribes of Israel for an inheritance. 2And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtapl, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them: 'Go, search the land'; and they came to the hill- country of Ephraim, unto the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned aside thither, and said unto him; 'Who brought thee hither? and what doest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? ' 4And he said unto them: 'Thus and thus hath Micah dealt with me, and he hath hired me, and I am become his priest.' &And they said unto him: 'Ask- counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we are going shall be prosperous.' 6And the priest said unto them: 'Go in peace; before the LOED is your way wherein ye go.'
7Then the five men departed^ and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; for there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in any thing, and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no dealings with any man. 8And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brethren said unto them: 'What say ye?' 9And they said: 'Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good; and are ye still? be not slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. l°When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and the land is large; for God hath given it into your hand; a place where there is no want; it hath every thing that is in the earth.'
uAnd there set forth from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and put of Eshtaol, six hundred men girt with weapons of war. ^And they went up^ and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah; wherefore that place was called Mahaneh-dan JUDGES unto this day; behold, it is behind overtook the children of Dan. ^And Kiriath-jearim. 13And they passed they cried unto the children of Dan.
thence unto the hill-country of Ephra- And they turned their faces, and said im, and came unto the house of Micah unto Micah: 'What aileth thee, that 14Then answered the five men that went thou comest with such a company?'
to spy out the country of Laish, and 24And he said: 'Ye have taken away said unto their ^ brethren: 'Do ye my god which I made, and the priest, know that there is in these houses an and are gone away, and what have ephod, and teraphun, and a graven I more? and how then say ye unimage, and a molten image? now thereto me: What aileth thee?' 25And fore consider what ye have to do.'
the children of Dan said unto him: 15And they turned aside thither, and 'Let not thy voice be heard among us, came to ^the house of the young man lest angry fellows fall upon you, and the Levite, even unto the house of thou lose thy life, with the lives of Micah, and asked him of his welfare.
thy household.' 26And the children of 16And the six hundred men girt with Dan went their way; and when Micah their weapons of war, who were of the saw that they were too strong for children of Dan, stood by the entrance him, he turned and went back unto of the gate. 17And the five men that his house. 27And they took that which went to spy out the land went up, Micah had made, and the priest whom and came in thither, and took the he had, and came unto Laish, unto graven image, and the ephod, and a people quiet and secure, and smote the teraphim, and the molten image; them with the edge of the sword; and and the priest stood by the entrance they burnt the city with fire. 28And of the gate with the six hundred men there was no deliverer, because it was girt with weapons of war. 18And when far from Zidon, and they had no dealthese went into Micah's house, and ings with any man; and it was in the fetched the graven image of the ephod, valley that heth by Beth-rehob. And and the teraphim, and the molten imthey built the city, and dwelt therein.
age, the priest said unto them: 'What 29And they called the name of the city do ye?' 19And they said unto him.
Dan, after the name of Dan their 'Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon father, who was born unto Israel; thy mouth, and go with us, and be howbeit the name of the city was to us a father and a priest; is it better Laish at the first. 30And the children for thee to be priest unto tEe house of Dan set up for themselves the of one man, or to be priest unto a graven image; and Jonathan, the son tribe and a family in Israel?' 20And of Gershom, the son of aManasseh, the priest's heart was glad, and he he and his sons were priests to the took the ephod, and the teraphim, and tribe of the Danites until the day of the graven image, and went in the the captivity of the land. 31So they midst of the people. ^So they turned set them up Micah's graven image and departed, and put the little ones which he made, all the time that the and the cattle and the goods before house of God was in Shiloh.
them. ^When they were a good way •j Q And it came to pass in those [rom the house of Micah, the men that days, when there was no king in were in the houses near to Micah's Israel, that there was a certain Levite iouse were gathered together, and sojourning on the farther side of the Heb. nt?3D> with j suspended, indicating an ear her reading, Moses.
JUDGES hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem in Judah. 2And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem in Judah, and was there the space of four months. 3And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly unto her, to bring her back, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses; and she brought him into her father's house; and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4And his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days; so they did eat and drink, and lodged there. 5And it came to pass on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart; and the damsel's father said unto his son-in- law: 'Stay thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward ye shall go your way/ 6So they sat down, and did eat and drink, both of them to- gether; and the damsel's father said unto the man: 'Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thy heart be merry. ' 7And the man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again. 8Aid he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the dam- sel's father said: 'Stay thy heart, I pray thee, and tarry ye until the day declineth'; and they did eat, both of them. 9And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his^ concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said unto him: 'Behold, now the day draweth toward evening; tar- ry, I pray you, all night; behold, the day groweth to an end; lodge here, that thy heart may be merry; and to- morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.' 10But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus — the same is Jerusalem; and there were with him a couple of asses saddled; his concubine also was with him. nWhen they were by Jebus —the day was far spent — the servant said unto his master: 'Come, I pray thee, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.' ^And his master said unto him: 'We will not turn aside into the city of a foreigner, that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah.' KAnd he said unto his servant: 'Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah.' 14So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them near to Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin. 15And they turned aside thither, to go in to lodge in Gibeah; and he went in, and sat^him down in the broad place of the city; for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge. 16And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even; now the man was of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the broad place of the city; and the old man said: ' Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?' 18And he said unto him: 'We are passing from Beth-lehem in Judah unto the farther side of the hill- country of Ephraim; from thence am I, and I went to Beth-lehem in Judah, and I am now going to the house of the LORD; and "there is no man that taketh me into his house. 19Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, JUDGES and for the young man that is with thy servants; there is no want of any thing.' 20And the old man said- 'Peace be unto thee; howsoever let all thy wants he upon me; only lodge not in the broad place.' aSo he brought him into his house, and gave the asses fodder; and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. ^As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying: 'Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him.' 23And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them: 'Nay, my brethren, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this wanton deed. ^Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine; I will bring them out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you; but unto this man do not so wanton a thing.' 25But the men would not hearken to him; so the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning; and when the day began to spring, they let her '"Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. 27And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold. 28And he said unto her: 'Up, and let us be going'; but none answered; then he took her up upon the ass; and the man rose up, and got him unto his place. 29And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. 30And it was so, that all that saw it said: 'Such a thing hath not happened nor been seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.' OQ Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD at Mizpah. 2And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, pre- sented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. — 3Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah — And the children of Israel said: 'Tejl us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?' 4And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was murdered, answered and said: 'I came into Gibeah that be- longeth to Benjamin, I and my con- cubine, to lodge. 5And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night; me they thought to have slain, and t my concubine they forced, and she is dead. 6And I took my concu- bine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and wantonness in Israel. 7Beholdt ye are all here, children of Israel, give here your ad- vice and counsel/ s 8And all the peo- ple arose as one man, saying: ' We wiH not any of us go to his tent^ neither will we any of us turn unto his house.
.JUDGES *But now this is the thing which we Israel rose up in the morning, and will do to Gibeah: we will go up against encamped against Gibeah. 20Ajid the it by lot; 10and we will take ten men of men of Israel went out to battle a, hundred throughout all the tribes against Benjamin; and the men of of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, Israel set the battle in array against and a thousand out of ten thousand, them at Gibeah. 21And the children io fetch victuals for the people, that of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, ihey may do, when they come to and destroyed down to the ground of aGibeah of Benjamin, according to the Israelites on that day twenty and all the wantonness that they have two thousand men. MAnd the people, wrought in Israel.' uSo all the men of the men of Israel, encouraged them- [srael were gathered against the city, selves, and set the battle again in knit together as one man.
array in the place where they set ^And the tribes of Israel sent men themselves in array the first day.
through all the tribe of Benjamin, MAnd the children of Israel went up saying: 'What wickedness is this and wept before the LORD until even; ;hat is come to pass among you? 3Now therefore deliver up the men,