Scriptural poems being several portions of Scripture digested into English verse
Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.
CHAP. XV.
BUt in a while, as Sampson visited
His Wife, in the Wheat Harvest with a Kid,
To her into her Chamber he would go,
The which her Father would not let him do;
But said, I thought that thou hadst quite forsook her,
Wherefore I gave consent, and thy Friend took her.
Doth not her Sister's Beauty hers exceed,
Though young? I pray then take her in her stead.
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And Sampson said, I shall more blameless be
Than they, though I shall do them injury:
And then he caught Three hundred Foxes, and
Turn'd Tail to Tail, and put a fiery Brand
Between Two Tails, and setting fire thereto,
Into the standing Corn he let them go,
And burnt both Shocks, and standing Corn and Vines,
And all the Olives of the Philistines.
Then they enquired who this thing had done,
And were inform'd, it was the Timnite's Son:
Because his Father took his Wife away,
And gave her his Companion to enjoy.
And the Philistines came up, full of Wrath,
And burnt with Fire, her and her Father both.
And Sampson said though you have done this thing,
A farther Evil I will on you bring,
And my avenging Hand shall cease hereafter:
And hip and thigh he smote them with great slaughter:
And he return'd, and came up to the top
Of Etam, and dwelt there upon the Rock.
Then the Philistines up to Judah went,
And in the Vale of Lehi pitch'd their Tent.
Then said the Men of Judah for what reason
Are you come up against us at this season?
And they made answer, we are come to bind
Sampson, to do to him in the same kind
As he hath done to us: Then there went up
Three thousand Men of Judah to the top
Of the Rock Etam, and to Sampson said,
Do'st thou not know that we have long obey'd
The Philistines? Wherefore is it that thou
Hast done this thing, to bring this Evil now,
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Upon us, let us know it? Then said he
I did to them, as they have done to me:
Then said they we are come, and have brought bands,
To bind, and give thee up into their hands:
And he made answer, you shall swear unto me,
That you your selves no Injury will do me:
And they reply'd, No, no, we will but bind thee,
We will not kill thee, but to them resign thee.
And they took two new Cords, and therewith tied him,
And from the Rock where he abode convey him:
Whom when they to the Camp at Lehi brought
The Philistines against him gave a shout:
And mightily the Spirit of the Lord
Came on him, and like burning Flax each cord
That was upon his Arms became, the Bands
Were likewise separated from his Hands.
And he the Jawbone of an Ass espied,
And took and smote them till a Thousand died:
Then said he with an Ass's Jawbone I
Have made mine Enemies in heaps to lie:
Behold I have destroy'd a Thousand Men
With this same worthless Ass's Jaw: And when
He made an end to speak, it came to pass
He cast away the Jawbone of the Ass,
And said, Now let the place where this was done
Be by the Name of Ramath-Lehi known.
And he was sore a thirst, and to the Lord
He cried, and said, O Lord, thou didst afford
This great Deliverance, and now shall I,
By reason of my Thirst fall down and die,
And fall into the most accursed Hands
Of these uncircumcis'd Philistine Bands?
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But God was pleas'd to cleave an hollow place,
Within the Jaw, from whence did Water pass:
Whereof when he had drank, his Spirit came
As heretofore, and he reviv'd again:
Wherefore that place, which is in Lehi, bore
Unto this Day the Name of En-hakkore.
And in the Days the Philistines bore sway,
Israel for Twenty Years did him obey.
