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Judges 15:1-16:3

The Jawbone and the Gates

Lyrics · Judges

The Jawbone and the Gates

Judges 15:1-16:3

Lyrics

About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the Judges collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
Judges
Collection
Judges
Musical styles
World Music
[Verse 1] Samson came at wheat-time bearing a gift, but found his wife was gone, So fire ran between the foxes through the vineyard and the grain. Philistine vengeance answered violence, and vengeance answered back, Till Judah brought three thousand men to bind the trouble in their land. [Pre-Chorus] The cords were tight around him, Then the Spirit fell like flame. [Chorus] With a jawbone in his hand, A thousand fell at Lehi. With the city gates upon his back, He climbed the hill toward Hebron. Strength broke chains and lifted iron, Yet the strongest man still thirsted for God. [Verse 2] He let his brothers bind him only after they had sworn, At the shout of Philistine ranks the ropes became like burned-out flax. A fresh jawbone lay beside him, and the battlefield grew still, Then thirst brought down the victor till he cried to heaven for life. [Bridge] God opened water from the hollow, and his failing strength returned, Twenty years he judged the people while Philistine power remained. Gaza closed its gates around him, waiting for the morning kill, But at midnight he tore post and bar and carried all away. [Final Chorus] With a jawbone in his hand, A thousand fell at Lehi. With the city gates upon his back, He climbed the hill toward Hebron. Strength broke chains and lifted iron, Yet the strongest man still thirsted for God. [Outro] The gates could not contain him, But his desires still could.

Named in this songSamsonHebron

About the passage

Judges 15: Retaliation consumes the Philistine conflict

Judges 15 is driven by the logic of retaliation. Samson returns to his wife and learns she has been given to another man. He answers by burning Philistine crops, vineyards, and olives with animals carrying firebrands. The Philistines then burn the woman and her father, fulfilling the very threat that had hung over the wedding feast. Samson retaliates again. When Philistine forces enter Judah, three thousand Judahites do not mobilize against their rulers but to bind Samson and surrender him. The Spirit comes mightily upon him, the cords fall away, and he strikes a thousand men with a fresh jawbone. Triumph is immediately followed by thirst, and Samson must cry to the LORD for life-giving water. The chapter ends by preserving both his extraordinary deliverance and his continuing dependence.

Study Judges 15 in depth

Judges 16: Strength, betrayal, blindness, and Samson’s final act

Judges 16 places Samson’s greatest visible strength beside his deepest vulnerability. At Gaza he escapes an ambush by carrying away the city gate, a public humiliation of Philistine security. Later he loves Delilah, who is paid by Philistine rulers to discover the source of his strength. Samson repeatedly gives false answers, and Delilah repeatedly tests them in front of hidden enemies. He eventually tells her all his heart and connects his uncut hair with consecration from the womb. Once he is shaved, the decisive loss is that the LORD departs. Samson is blinded, bound, and made to grind in prison. At a feast to Dagon, the Philistines display him as proof of their god’s victory. Samson prays once more for strength, pulls down the supporting pillars, and dies with his captors.

Study Judges 16 in depth