[1] Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in. [2] “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.” [3] Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” [4] So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, [5] lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves. [6] When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. [7] Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” [8] He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam. [9] The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. [10] The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?” “We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”
