Samson repented of his actions, and returned to his wife's house, and
wished to go in to his wife in the chamber; but her father would not
suffer him to go. And her father said: "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."
This did not seem to please Samson, even though the younger was fairer
than the older, for he "went and caught three hundred foxes, and took
firebrands, and turned (the foxes) 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 burned up
both the shocks and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and
olives."
This was Samson's _third_ exploit.
When the Philistines found their corn, their vineyards, and their olives
burned, they 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 burned her and
her father with fire. And Samson said unto them: 'Though ye
have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I
will cease.' _And he smote them hip and thigh with a great
slaughter_, and he went and dwelt in the top of the rock
Etam."
This "great slaughter" was Samson's _fourth_ exploit.
"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, and to do to him as he hath done to us.' Then
three thousand men of Judah went up to the top 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 to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hands of
the 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 deliver thee
into their hands: but surely we will not kill thee.' And they
bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the
rock. And when he
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