Then the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" The people said, "Samson did it, because his wife has been taken away." Then the Philistines went and burned Samson's wife and her father with fire. Samson was now still more angry. He killed a great number of the Philistines, and then went to the top of a rock and lived there alone. The Philistines now went to fight against Judah. "We must have Samson, and bind him, and take him prisoner," they said. The people of Judah were frightened; they ran to Samson and said, "We are come to bind thee; we will not kill thee; but we will give thee into the hands of the Philistines." Then they bound him with two new ropes and led him away. But Samson had strength to break the ropes, and he soon escaped; then, picking up the jawbone of an ass, which he found on the way as he ran, he killed 1,000 men of the Philistines with it. [Illustration: SAMSON DESTROYING THE PHILISTINES WITH THE JAWBONE OF AN ASS.] After this slaughter, Samson was most thirsty. He cried to God and asked for water, that he might not die of thirst. Then water sprang up like a well, and Samson drank and became strong again. Samson had been raised up to deliver his country from the Philistines, and so to him was given great strength, and boldness and courage to do it. Soon after, Samson went to Gaza. The people heard he was there, and they waited quietly for him all night. "In the morning we shall kill him," they said. But Samson arose in the night and went to the gate of the city, and took it up, and the posts, and the bar, and carried them upon his shoulders to the top of the hill near Hebron. Samson had now another wife. Her name was Deliah. The Philistines needed very much to know wherein Samson's great strength lay. So they went to Deliah and said, "Ask Samson what makes him so strong. Learn how we can bind him; and we will each give thee 1100 pieces of silver." Deliah did not love her husband as she loved money; so she went to Samson and begged him to tell her what made him so strong. Samson did not mean to tell her; so he deceived her, and said, "Let them bind me with seven fresh green withes." Deliah told the Philistines, and they brought the withes, and she bound Samson with them, while the Philistines were hiding in the room. Then Deliah cried, "The Philistines are upon thee, Samson!" Samson bounded up, broke the withes, and the defeated Philistines ran away. Again Deliah asked Samson to tell her what made him so strong; and he said, "Let them bind me with new ropes." Deliah bound him with the ropes and cried again, "The Philistines are upon thee, Samson!" Then Samson sprang up, broke the ropes like little threads, and escaped again.