Jeph-thah was a judge for six years, and then he died. CHAPTER IX. SAMSON: THE STRONG MAN. THE Jews kept on in their sins, and took no pains to please the Lord, and so fell in-to the hands of the Phil-is-tines. And there was at that time a man in Is-ra-el whose name was Ma-no-ah. Both he and his wife served the Lord; and they had no child. And God sent one of his an-gels to the wife of Ma-no-ah to tell her that she should have a son who was to be brought up to serve the Lord, and to do his work. Ere long Ma-no-ah and his wife had a son, to whom they gave the name of Sam-son. And the child grew, and the Lord blest him. And when he was grown up he went to Tin-muth, where he met a Phil-is-tine wo-man and fell in love with her. Then his pa-rents plead with him to find a wife in Is-ra-el, and not to take this one who was no friend to his race. But Sam-son would not give her up. So they went with him to Tin-muth. And on the way a li-on ran out and roared at him. And Sam-son put his arms round the beast and tore him with his hands as if he had been a young kid. But he did not tell his fath-er and moth-er what he had done. The time soon came when Sam-son was to set the Jews free from the Phil-is-tines. And he went down to one of their towns and slew a few of their men, and then went back to his own home, while his wife stayed in Tin-muth. When it was time to bring the wheat in from the field, Sam-son went down to see his wife, and took with him a young kid. But when he came to the house her fath-er would not let him go in, and told him that she was his wife no more, but had gone to live with some one else. Then Sam-son was in a great rage, and he went and caught more than ten score fox-es, and set bits of wood on fire, and tied these fire-brands to their tails, and let them loose in the fields and vine-yards of the Phil-is-tines. And they set fire to the grain, and burnt it all up. And the grape-vines and fruit trees were burnt, and much harm was done. When the Phil-is-tines found out that it was Sam-son who had done this they took his wife and her fath-er and burnt them to death. And Sam-son fought and slew a host of the Phil-is-tines, and then went on the top of a high rock called E-tam to stay there. Then a crowd of men went up with a rush to the top of the rock, and they said to Sam-son, We have come to bind thee, that we may give thee in-to the hands of the Phil-is-tines. Sam-son made them swear that they would not put him to death, and they bound him with strong cords and brought him down from the rock. As they drew near the camp of the Phil-is-tines a great shout went up from the men there. And the Lord gave Sam-son such strength that he broke the cords from his arms as if they had been burnt threads. And Sam-son took up the jaw-bone of an ass, and with it he fought the Phil-is-tines and slew a host of them. [Illustration: SAM-SON SLAY-ING THE PHIL-IS-TINES.]