Episode 94: 300 foxes, 1000 men, and the jawbone of an ass

(Judges 15)

Samson ties the tails of 300 foxes and sets them on fire

15 ¹ Sometime later, Samson visited his wife with a young goat, and said,

I will have sex with my wife in the bedroom.

² But her father wouldn't let him go in. He said to Samson,

I thought you hated her, so I gave her to your best man.

Isn't her sister prettier, anyway? Take her instead.

³ Samson said,

I will be more blameless than the Philistines, but they won't like what I do to them.

^4-5 So he caught 300 foxes, tied their tails together, set them on fire, and released them into the Philistines' crops.

The Philistines burn Samson's wife and father-in-law

⁶ When the Philistines found out about it, they said, "Who did this?"

They were told that Samson did it.

So the Philistines burned Samson's wife and father.

Samson smites the Philistines with a great slaughter

⁷ Samson said to the Philistines,

Because you've done this, I will take revenge. Then I'll be done.

⁸ And Samson smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter.

Then he went to live on top of a rock in Etam.

Samson kills 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass

⁹ The Philistines went to Lehi in the land of Judah.

¹⁰ And the men of Judah said to the Philistines, "Why have you come to our land?"

The Philistines answered,

To capture Samson and do to him what he did to us.

¹¹ Three thousand men of Judah went to the top of rock Etam and said to Samson,

¹² We are going to tie you up and give you to the Philistines.

¹³ So they tied him up with two new ropes.

^14-15 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson.

And he broke the ropes and killed 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass.

¹⁷ After that, Samson was thirsty, and said to God,

You've helped me kill all these people,

¹⁸ will you now let me die of thirst and be carried away by uncircumcised men?

¹⁹ So God carved out a hole in the jawbone of the ass.

And water came out of the hole, quenching Samson's thirst.

²⁰ Samson judged Israel for twenty years.