the angel of the Lord said to Manoe, Though thou detain me I cannot eat of thy victuals; but if thou wouldst offer a whole 17 burnt offering, offer it to the Lord. Because Manoe did not 18 know that he was an angel of the Lord, therefore Manoe said

to him, What is thy name, that when thy word cometh to pass we may honour thee? And the angel of the Lord said to Ma19 noe, Why askest thou my name? It is indeed Wonderful. Then Manoe took the kid of the goats, with the sacrifice of flour, and carried them up upon the rock for the Lord. And he went apart to offer the sacrifice, while Manoe and his wife 20 were looking on. And when the flame ascended above the altar,

up towards heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. 21 When Manoe and his wife saw this, they fell flat with their 22 face to the ground. And as the angel of the Lord no more ap

peared to Manoe and his wife, Manoe then knew that he was an angel of the Lord; whereupon he said to his wife, We shall 23 surely die, for we have seen God. But his wife said to him, Had it been the will of the Lord to cause us to die, he would not have received at our hand a whole burnt offering, and a sacrifice; nor would he have shewed us all these things; nor would he, as on this occasion, have caused us to hear these things.

24 So the woman bore a son, and called his name Sampson; 25 and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him; and the Spirit of the Lord began to go out with him, at the camp of Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol.

XIV. And Sampson went down to Thamnatha, and saw at 2 Thamnatha a woman of the daughters of the Philistines, and he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman at Thamnatha, of the daughters of the Philis3 tines. Now therefore get her for me for a wife. And his father and his mother said to him, Are there not daughters of thy brethren, or a woman among my whole tribe, that thou shouldst go to take a wife from among the uncircumcised Philistines? But Sampson said to his father, Get this woman for me; for she is 4 right in my eyes. His father and his mother did not know that it was of the Lord, that he was seeking to take vengeance on 5 the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Then Sampson went down, with his father and his mother to Thamnatha, and when he came to the vineyard

6 of Thamnatha, behold, a young roaring lion met him; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he crushed him as one would a kid; though he had nothing in his hands. But he did 7 not tell his father or his mother what he had done. So they went down, and spoke to the woman, and the matter was sett 8 led to Sampson's satisfaction. And when he returned, the year after, to take his wife, he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion, and behold there was a swarm of bees, and honey in 9 the lion's mouth. So he took out some of the combs in his hand, and went on eating; and when he came to his father and his mother, he gave them, and they ate thereof. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the lion's 10 mouth. And when his father went down to the woman, Samp.

son made an entertainment there seven days; for so young men 11 usually do. Now when they saw him, they made choice of 12 thirty men to be with him. And Sampson said to them, I will propound to you a riddle; if you explain it during the seven days of the entertainment, or find out the meaning of it, I will give you thirty Sindons, and thirty suits of apparel: 13 but if you cannot tell me, you shall give me thirty Sindons

and thirty changes of apparel. And they said, Propound thy 14 riddle that we may hear it. Then he said to them, What eatable

came from the eater; and, from the fierce, what that is sweet? 15 And when in the course of three days they could not explain the riddle, they on the fourth day said to Sampson's wife, Ask we pray thee thy husband, and get him to explain the riddle to 16 thee, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire. Have you invited us to do us an injury? So Sampson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and hast not loved me; for thou hast not told me the riddle which thou hast propounded to the children of my people. And Sampson said to her, If I have not told it to my father and my mother, should 17 I tell thee? But as she continued to weep before him, during

the seven days, while the feast lasted, he at length on the seventh day told her, because she importuned him; and she told 18 the children of her people. So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before the sun was set, What is sweeter than honey, and what fiercer than a lion? Upon which Sampson said to them, If you had not ploughed with my heifer, vou

19 would not have known my riddle. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and slew of them thirty men, and took their garments, and gave the suits to them who had expounded the riddle. And Sampson was 20 filled with wrath, and went up to his father's house, and Sampson's wife was married to one of those friends of his, with whom he had contracted friendship.

XV. The next year, however, in the days of the wheat harvest, Sampson visited his wife with a kid of the goats, and said, Let, me go in, to my wife, into the chamber; but her father would 2 not suffer him to go in. And her father said, I thought that thou didst utterly hate her, therefore I gave her to one of thy friends. 3 But is not her younger sister better than she? Let this one, I pray thee, be thine, instead of her. Thereupon Sampson said to them, Now, at least for once, I must be justified by the 4 Philistines in doing them an injury. Then Sampson went and caught three hundred foxes, and he took torches; and when he had turned tail to tail, he put a torch between every two 5 tails, and tied them, and set fire to the torches, and let them go through the standing corn of the Philistines. And they burned both what was on the threshing floors, and the standing corn, 6 and also the vineyards, and the olive trees. Whereupon the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And when they were told that it was Sampson, the son in law of Thamni, because he had taken his wife, and given her to one of his friends, the Philistines went up and burned her, and her father's house, 7 with fire. And Sampson said to them, As you have served her, 8 so I will take vengeance on you, and then I will be at rest. So

he smote them in combat with a great slaughter, and went 9 down and dwelt in a hollow of the rock Etam. Then the Philistines went up, and encamped in Juda, and spread them10 selves through Lechi. And the chief of Juda said, Why are you come up against us? And the Philistines said, We are come up to bind Sampson, and to do to him as he hath done 11 to us. Upon this three thousand men of Juda went down to the hollow of the rock Etam, and said to Sampson, Dost thou not know that the Philistines have dominion over us? Why then hast thou done this to us? And Sampson said, As they 12 did to me, so have I done to them. Then they said to him,

We are come down to bind thee, and deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. And Sampson said to them, Swear 13 to me. Perhaps you yourselves will fall upon me. And they said to him, No; we will only bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hands; but we will not put thee to death. So they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock. 14 And when they came to Jaw bone, the Philistines shouted, and ran to meet him. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him; and the cords which were on his arms became like tow, which is burned with fire; and the bands dropped from his hands, and he found the jaw bone of an ass lying there: so he stretched forth his hand, and took it up, and with it smote a thousand 16 men. And Sampson said, With the jaw of an ass I have utterly

routed them; for with the jaw of an ass I have slain a thousand 17 men. And when he had done speaking, he threw the jaw out of 18 his hand, and called that place, Slaughter of the jaw. And be

ing very thirsty he wept before the Lord and said, Thou hast vouchsafed this great deliverance to the hand of thy servant; but now I must die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the un19 circumcised. Whereupon God caused that pool at Jaw to break forth, and water flowed out of it, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. For this cause the name of that fountain which is at Jaw is now called, The fountain of the invoked.

20

Now when he had judged Israel in the days of the PhilisXVI. tines twenty years, Sampson went to Gaza, and saw there 2 a woman-a harlot, and went in to her. And when the Gazites were told that Sampson was come there, they surrounded him, and lay in wait for him the whole night, at the gate of the city. They indeed kept quiet all the night, saying, When the dawn 3 appeareth we shall kill him. But when Sampson had lain till midnight, he arose in the middle of the night, and took the doors of the city gate with the two posts, and lifted them up with the bar, and laid them on his shoulders, and went up to the top of the mountain which looketh towards Chebron, and deposited them there.

4

And after this he loved a woman at Alsorach, whose name 5 was Dalida; and the chiefs of the Philistines went up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength

lieth, and how we may prevail over him, and bind him so as to humble him; and we will give thee, every one of us eleven : 6 hundred pieces of silver. Upon this Dalida said to Sampson,

Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and with 7 what thou couldst be bound so as to be humbled. And Sampson said to her, Were they to bind me with seven thongs, wet, but not rotten, I should lose my strength, and be as other men. 8 So the chiefs of the Philistines brought her seven thongs, wet, 9 but not rotten, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in wait in her chamber. Then she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Sampson. Upon which he broke the thongs, as one would break a thread of tow, when it is touched 10 with fire. So his strength was not known. Then Dalida said to Sampson, Behold, thou hast deceived me and told me lies. 11 Now therefore tell me with what thou canst be bound. And he said to her, Were they to bind me with new ropes which have never been used, I should lose my strength, and be like 12 other men. So Dalida took new ropes, and bound him with them, and the men in ambush came out of the chamber and she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Sampson! Where13 upon he broke them from his arms like a thread. Then Dalida said to Sampson, Behold, thou hast deceived me and told me lies. Tell me, I pray thee, with what thou canst be bound. And he said to her, If thou wert to weave these seven locks of my head with the woof, and fasten them into the wall with 14 that pin, I should be as weak as other men. So when he went

to sleep, Dalida took the seven locks of his head, and wove them with the woof, and fastened them with the pin to the wall, and said, The Philistines are upon thee Sampson! Whereupon he roused from his sleep, and pulled the pin of the web 15 out of the wall. Then Dalida said to Sampson, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? These three times thou hast deceived me, and hast not told me where16 in thy great strength lieth. And as she continued to afflict him

daily with her speeches, and press him, and tired him even to death, he at length told her all his heart, and said to her; There hath never come a razor on my head, because I am consecrat17 ed to God from my mother's womb. If therefore I were shaven, my strength would depart from me, and I would become