11. Then 3,000 men of Judah went to the cave in the rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “What have you done to us? Don’t you know that the Philistines rule over us?”Samson answered, “I only paid them back for what they did to me!”
12. Then they said to him, “We have come to tie you up. We will give you to the Philistines.”Samson said to them, “Promise me you will not hurt me yourselves.”
13. The men from Judah said, “We agree. We will just tie you up and give you to the Philistines. We will not kill you.” So they tied Samson with two new ropes. Then they led him up from the cave in the rock.
14. When Samson came to the place named Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him. They were shouting for joy. Then the Spirit of the Lord entered Samson and gave him great power. The ropes on him became weak like strings that had been burned. They fell off his hands!
15. Samson found a jawbone of a donkey that had just died. He took it and killed 1,000 men with it!
16. Then Samson said,“With a donkey’s jawboneI have made donkeys out of them.With a donkey’s jawboneI have killed 1,000 men!”
17. When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. So that place was named Ramath Lehi.
18. Samson was very thirsty. So he cried out to the Lord. He said, “I am your servant. You gave me this great victory. Do I have to die of thirst now? Do I have to be captured by people who are not circumcised?”
19. Then God opened up a hole in the ground at Lehi, and water came out. When Samson drank that water, he felt better. He felt strong again. So he named that spring Caller’s Spring. It is still there in Lehi to this day.
20. So Samson judged Israel for 20 years. That was in the days of the Philistines.