45 seeing it is secret? ing, and offered it upon a rock unto Jehovah: and the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of Jehovah ascended in the flame of 50 the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of Jehovah did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of Jehovah. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his 55 wife said unto him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and 60 the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him. And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him at times in the Camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

So Manoah took a kid with a meat offer

14.1. And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And 65 he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that 70 thou goest to take a wife of the Philistines ? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of Jehovah, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

75

14.5. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath : and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but 80 he told not his father or his mother what he had done. And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And

he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to 85 his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. So his father went down unto the woman and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought 90 thirty companions to be with him. And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty shirts of linen and thirty change of garments but if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me 95 thirty shirts of linen and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them,

Out of the eater came forth meat,

And out of the strong came forth sweetness.

100

And 105

And they could not in three days expound the riddle. And it came to pass on the 2 fourth 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 to take that we have? is it not so? 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 people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? And she wept before him the 110 seven days, while their feast lasted and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people. And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter 115 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.

And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and he went down to 120 Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his

2 This is the reading of the LXX. The Hebrew text has "seventh." JUNIOR

L

father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his com125 panion, whom he had used as his friend.

15.1. But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. And her father said, 130 I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. And Samson said concerning them, This time shall I be guiltless towards the Philistines, when I do them a displeasure. And Samson went 135 and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with 140 the vineyards and olives. Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. And Samson said unto them, 145 If ye do after this manner, I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

LESSON XXXIX

SAMSON

JUDGES 15,9 to 16,31

15.9. Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. 5 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cleft of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. And they said unto him, We are come down

deliver thee into And they bound from the rock. 15 shouted against

to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the 10 Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and their hand but surely we will not kill thee. him with two new cords, and brought him up And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines him and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, 20 and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. Samson said,

And

With the jawbone of an ass, 1 heaps upon heaps, With the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that 25 he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place 2 Ramath-lehi. And he was sore athirst, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? But God clave the hollow place 30 that was in Lehi, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof 3 En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

35

16.1. Then went Samson to Gaza. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, 40 and took 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 an hill that is before Hebron.

16.4. And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman 45 1 Literally "an heap, two heaps." In the Hebrew there is a play upon the words for ass and heap, which are alike. Dean Stanley renders it, "With the jawbone of an ass one mass two masses. 2 That is, "Jawbone Hill." 3 That is, "The Caller's Spring."

in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And 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 may bind him to 50 afflict him and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never 55 dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon 60 thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If they 65 bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms 70 like a thread. And 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. And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, 75 Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and plucked up the pin of the beam, and the web. And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, 80 when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; that he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from 85 me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And