10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you invaded our land?”The Philistines answered, “We've come to get Samson. We're going to do the same things to him that he did to our people.”
11 Three thousand men from Judah went to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, “Don't you know that the Philistines rule us, and they will punish us for what you did?”“I was only getting even with them,” Samson replied. “They did the same things to me first.”
12 “We came here to tie you up and turn you over to them,” said the men of Judah.“I won't put up a fight,” Samson answered, “but you have to promise not to hurt me yourselves.”
13-14 “We promise,” the men said. “We will only tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines. We won't kill you.” Then they tied up his hands and arms with two brand-new ropes and led him away from Etam Rock.When the Philistines saw that Samson was being brought to their camp at Jawbone, they started shouting and ran towards him. But the Lord's Spirit took control of Samson, and Samson broke the ropes, as though they were pieces of burnt cloth.
15 Samson glanced around and spotted the jawbone of a donkey. The jawbone had not yet dried out, so it was still hard and heavy. Samson grabbed it and started hitting Philistines—he killed a thousand of them!
16 After the fighting was over, he made up this poem about what he had done to the Philistines:I used a donkey's jawboneto kill a thousand men;I beat them with this jawboneover and over again.
17 Samson tossed the jawbone on the ground and decided to call the place Jawbone Hill. It is still called that today.