Judges 15:9-19

9The Philistine army went to attack Judah. They made their camp near Lehi and they prepared to fight.

10The men of Judah asked them, ‘Why have you come to attack us?’ The Philistines replied, ‘We have come to catch Samson and take him as our prisoner. We need to punish him in the same way that he has punished us.’

11Then 3,000 men of Judah went to the cave where Samson was hiding. They said to him, ‘You know that the Philistines are our rulers. You are causing them to give us trouble.’ Samson said, ‘I have only done to them as they did to me.’

12The men of Judah said to him, ‘We have come to tie you up as our prisoner. We must let the Philistines take you away.’ Samson said, ‘Promise me that you will not kill me yourselves.’

13They said, ‘We agree. We will only tie you up and give you to them. We promise that we will not kill you.’ So they tied him up with two new ropes. They took him with them away from the cave.

14When they arrived at Lehi, the Philistine soldiers shouted happily as they came towards him. But the Lord's Spirit gave Samson great strength. The ropes that tied his arms broke in pieces. They seemed as weak as grass that burns in a fire. They fell from his hands.

15He saw a bone from the skull of a donkey that had just died. He picked it up and he used it to kill 1,000 Philistine soldiers.

16Then Samson sang this song: ‘I have used a donkey's skull to kill 1,000 men. I have made them like many heaps of dead donkeys!’

17After that, he threw away the bone from the donkey's skull. So people called that place ‘Ramath Lehi’.

18Samson was now very thirsty. He called out to the Lord for help. He said, ‘You have helped me to win a great battle. Should I now die because I am so thirsty? Then these Philistines would do whatever they want to me.’

19So God caused a hole to open in the ground near Lehi. Water poured out of it. Samson drank some water and he became strong again. Samson called the spring of water ‘En Hakkore’. It is still there in Lehi.