1 Later, during the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit the young woman he thought was still his wife. He brought along a young goat as a gift and said to her father, “I want to go into my wife's bedroom.”
“You can't do that,” he replied. 2 “When you left the way you did, I thought you were divorcing her. So I arranged for her to marry one of the young men who were at your party. But my younger daughter is even prettier, and you can have her as your wife.”
3 “This time,” Samson answered, “I have a good reason for really hurting some Philistines.”
Samson Takes Revenge
4 Samson went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them together in pairs with oil-soaked rags around their tails. 5 Then Samson took the foxes into the Philistine wheat fields that were ready to be harvested. He set the rags on fire and let the foxes go. The wheat fields went up in flames, and so did the stacks of wheat that had already been cut. Even the Philistine vineyards and olive orchards burned.
6 Some of the Philistines started asking around, “Who could have done such a thing?”
“It was Samson,” someone told them. “He married the daughter of that man in Timnah, but then the man gave Samson's wife to one of the men at the wedding.”
The Philistine leaders went to Timnah and burned to death Samson's wife and her father.
7 When Samson found out what they had done, he went to them and said, “You killed them! And I won't rest until I get even with you.” 8 Then Samson started hacking them to pieces with his sword.
Samson left Philistia and went to live in the cave at Etam Rock. 9 But it wasn't long before the Philistines invaded Judah and set up a huge army camp at Jawbone.
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 toward 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 1,000 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 jawbone
to kill a thousand men;
I beat them with this jawbone
over 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.
18 Samson was so thirsty that he prayed, “Our Lord, you helped me win a battle against a whole army. Please don't let me die of thirst now. Those heathen Philistines will carry off my dead body.”
19 Samson was tired and weary, but God sent water gushing from a rock. Samson drank some and felt strong again.
Samson named the place Caller Spring, because he had called out to God for help. The spring is still there at Jawbone.
20 Samson was a leader of Israel for 20 years, but the Philistines were still the rulers of Israel.
1 Esiku limwe konima Simson okwa yi, a ka talele po omukadhi pethimbo lyeteyo lyosiima nokwa faalele onkombwena. Okwa ti kuhemweno: “Onda hala okuya kumukadhandje.”
Ihe hemweno ine mu pitika. 2 Okwa ti kuSimson: “Onda li ndi shi, owe mu tondo nokuli, nomolwashoka onde mu gandja koshinkumbi shoye. Ihe opu na omumwayina ondenge ye omwaanawa e mu vule. Oye kutha po, a ninge gwoye.”
3 Simson okwa ti: “Ngashingeyi kandi na we mbedhi, ngele tandi geele Aafilisti.” 4 Okwa yi nokuli e ta kwata oombandje omathele gatatu. Okwa kutha oombandje oombali noombali, nomishila dhadho okwe dhi mangele kumwe e ta tula ko onyeka. 5 Nena okwe dhi tidhile momapya gAafilisti e dhi tomeka omulilo. Pamukalo nguka okwa fike po oondudhi adhihe niilya wo mbyoka inaayi teywa manga, osho wo iitsambe yomiviinu nooholivi ndhoka hadhi zi omagadhi. 6 Aafilisti sho ya pulathana kutya olye a ningi ngeyi, oya koneke kutya nani oSimson e shi ningi, oshoka hemweno gwokuTimna okwa gandja omufuko gwe koshinkumbi she. Aafilisti oya yi e taa fike po omufuko negumbo lyahe.
7 Simson okwe ya lombwele. “Omwa ningi nayi! Oshili ite mwena, manga inaandi mu galulila ondjambi yeni!” 8 Okwe ya mbolokotele e te ya vunyagula, noyendji yomuyo okwe ya dhipaga. Nena okwa yi e ta kala mekololo lyemanya puEtam.
Simson ta sindi Aafilisti
9 Aafilisti oye ya noya yungu ontanda muJuda e taa matukile oshilando Lehi. 10 Aajuda oye ya pula: “Omolwashike tamu tu matukile?”
Oya yamukula ya ti: “Otwe ya, tu kwate Simson, tu mu tule meti, tu mu ningile, ngaashi e tu ningile.” 11 Nena aalumentu omayuvi gatatu gaJuda oya yi kekololo lyemanya puEtam e taa ti kuSimson: “Ku shi shi kutya Aafilisti oyo aapangeli yetu? Owe tu ningi ngiini?”
Okwa yamukula: “Onde ya ningile naanaa shoka ya ningile ndje.”
12 Aalumentu oya ti: “Otwe ya, tu ku mange, tse tu ku gandje kuyo.”
Simson okwa ti: “Ganenii ndje, mwaa dhipage ndje ne yene.”
13 Oyo ya ti kuye: “Onawa, otatu ku manga ashike e tatu ku gandja miikaha yawo. Itatu ku dhipaga.” Oye mu manga noongodhi oompe noye mu kutha mo mekololo.
14 Sho ye ya kuLehi, Aafilisti oye mu matukile taye mu igidha. Ohaluka oonkondo dhOmuwa odhe ya muye, e ta tokola oongodhi dha li dhe mu manga komaako nokiikaha dha li dha fa oondali dha pya komulilo. 15 Nena okwa mono oluyego lwokasino opo ka sile. Okwa petama e te lu toola po e ta dhipaga nalwo aalumentu eyuvi limwe. 16 Simson nokwi imbi eimbilo tali ti:
“Aalumentu eyuvi limwe onde ya dhipaga noluyego lwokasino;
onoluyego lwokasino onde ya ndumbike mondumba.”
17 Konima yaambika okwe ekelehi oluyego lwokasino. Ehala mpoka pwa ningilwa mbika, olya lukwa Ramat Lehi.
18 Simson sho a li e endjwa mo kenota, okwi ithana Omuwa e ta ti: “Ongoye wa pe ndje esindano ndika ekumithi, ihe ngashingeyi oto etha, ndi se kenota ngaye ndi kwatwe kaapagani mbano Aafilisti.” 19 Nena Kalunga okwe egulula olumbogo mevi puLehi, nomeya oga fuluka mo. Simson okwe ga nu e ta talalelwa noku uvite nawa. Oluthithiya nduka olwa lukwa Hakkore; olu li sigo onena puLehi.
20 Simson okwa wilike Israel omimvo omilongo mbali, manga Aafilisti ya li taa pangele evi.
