1 Some time later Samson went to visit his wife during the wheat harvest and took her a young goat. He told her father, “I want to go to my wife's room.”
But he wouldn't let him go in. 2 He told Samson, “I really thought that you hated her, so I gave her to your friend. But her younger sister is prettier, anyway. You can have her, instead.”
3 Samson said, “This time I'm not going to be responsible for what I do to the Philistines!” 4 So he went and caught three hundred foxes. Two at a time, he tied their tails together and put torches in the knots. 5 Then he set fire to the torches and turned the foxes loose in the Philistine wheat fields. In this way he burned up not only the wheat that had been harvested but also the wheat that was still in the fields. The olive orchards were also burned. 6 When the Philistines asked who had done this, they learned that Samson had done it because his father-in-law, a man from Timnah, had given Samson's wife to a friend of Samson's. So the Philistines went and burned the woman to death and burned down her father's house.
7 Samson told them, “So this is how you act! I swear that I won't stop until I pay you back!” 8 He attacked them fiercely and killed many of them. Then he went and stayed in the cave in the cliff at Etam.
Samson Defeats the Philistines
9 The Philistines came and camped in Judah, and attacked the town of Lehi. 10 The men of Judah asked them, “Why are you attacking us?”
They answered, “We came to take Samson prisoner and to treat him as he treated us.” 11 So these three thousand men of Judah went to the cave in the cliff at Etam and said to Samson, “Don't you know that the Philistines are our rulers? What have you done to us?”
He answered, “I did to them just what they did to me.”
12 They told him, “We have come here to tie you up, so we can hand you over to them.”
Samson said, “Give me your word that you won't kill me yourselves.”
13 “All right,” they said, “we are only going to tie you up and hand you over to them. We won't kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff.
14 When he got to Lehi, the Philistines came running toward him, shouting at him. Suddenly the power of the Lord made him strong, and he broke the ropes around his arms and hands as if they were burnt thread. 15 Then he found a jawbone of a donkey that had recently died. He reached down and picked it up, and killed a thousand men with it. 16 So Samson sang,
“With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men;
With the jawbone of a donkey I piled them up in piles.”
17 After that, he threw the jawbone away. The place where this happened was named Ramath Lehi.
18 Then Samson became very thirsty, so he called to the Lord and said, “You gave me this great victory; am I now going to die of thirst and be captured by these heathen Philistines?” 19 Then God opened a hollow place in the ground there at Lehi, and water came out of it. Samson drank it and began to feel much better. So the spring was named Hakkore; it is still there at Lehi.
20 Samson led Israel for twenty years while the Philistines ruled the land.
Eembadje daSimson omafele atatu
1 Ndelenee eshi pa pita efimbo limwe. Simson okwa ya e nokakombwena pefimbo leteyo a ka tale omukainhu waye ndele ta ti: “Ame nda hala okuya komwalikadi wange monduda yaye.” Ndelenee xemweno ine shi itavela, a ye mo. 2 Ndele xemweno ta ti: “Ame nda li ndi shii ove we mu tonda, onghee hano nde mu pa ongoleka yoye. Ndele ondenge yaye iwa i mu dule. Yo nai ninge yoye ponhele yaau.” 3 Ndelenee Simson okwe va lombwela ta ti: “Paife ndihe netimba kOvafilisti, ngeenge handi va ningile owii.” 4 Opo nee Simson okwa ya ndele ta kwata eembadje omafele atatu. Nokwa kufa eenyika nokwe di manga komishila oombali noombali ndele ta tula eenyika pokati komishila. 5 Ndele ye okwa tomeka eenyika ndele okwa efa eembadje di ye momapya Ovafilisti inaa teywa. Ndele okwa tomeka eenduba doilya noilya inai teywa, noikokola yomiviinyu nomalumono. 6 Opo nee Ovafilisti va pula: “Olyelye e shi ninga?” Ndele tava ti: “OSimson, oshitenya shOmutimni, osheshi winya a kufa po omwalikadi waye nokwe mu pa ongoleka yaye.” NOvafilisti va fikama ndele tava xwike po nomundilo omwalikadi neumbo laxe. 7 Opo nee Simson ta ti kuvo: “Eshi tamu ningi nge ngaha, ame itandi mu efa, fimbo inandi mu kwatela onghone, ndele handi i.” 8 Ndele okwe va denga unene peenho nomomipindi. Ndele ye okwa dja po, ta tula mekololo lomamanya muEtam.
9 Opo nee Ovafilisti va ehena ndele va onga onhanda muJuda ndele ve lihanena monhele yaLehi. 10 Novalumenhu Ovajuda tava pula: “Omolwashike mwe tu homona?” Ndele vo tava ti: “Fye twe uya tu mange Simson, tu mu ninge ngaashi ye e tu ningila.” 11 Opo nee ovalumenhu omayovi atatu vomuJuda va ya kekololo lemanya laEtam ndele tava pula Simson: “Ino shiiva nokutya, fye hatu pangelwa kOvafilisti, ndele we tu ningila shike?” Ndele ye ta ti kuvo: “Vo ngaashi va ninga nge, osho nde shi va ningila.” 12 Opo nee vo tava ti kuye: Fye twe uya tu ku mange, opo tu ku yandje momake Ovafilisti. Ndele Simson ta ti kuvo: Aneni nge nye vene muha dipae nge. 13 Ndele vo ove mu nyamukula tava ti: Ahowe, fye ohatu ku mange ashike, ndele hatu ku yandje momake avo, ndelenee itatu ku dipaa. Opo nee vo ve mu manga neengodi mbali dipe, ndele tave mu kufa mo mekololo.
Simson ta dipaa Ovafilisti eyovi limwe noluhamama londongi
14 Ye eshi e uya kuLehi, Ovafilisti va hafa omolwaye. Ndelenee Omhepo yOmwene ye uya muye, neengodi odo da li da manga omaoko, da ninga ngaashi eefipa da pya komundilo, neengodi da manguluka momake aye. 15 Ndele okwa mona oluhamama litalala londongi, nokwa nana eke laye ndele te li kufa, ndele ta dipaa nalo ovalumenhu eyovi limwe. 16 Ndele Simson ta ti:
“Noluhamama londongi nde va denga monduba, heeno,
meenduba mbali;
noluhamama londongi
ame nda dipaa ovalumenhu eyovi!”
17 Ndele ye eshi e shi tonga okwa ekelashi oluhamama londongi. Osho ngaha onhele oyo ya lukwa Oshikulundu sholuhamama. 18 Opo nee ye a fyenota unene ndele ta kuu kOmwene ta ti: “Ove wa yandja efindano eli linene keke lomupiya woye, ame ondi nokufya enota paife nokuwila momake aava inava pita etanda?” 19 Opo nee Kalunga okwa panda omututu moluhamama, omo mwa dja omeva; ndele ye okwa nwa, nomhepo yaye ya aluka, nokwa yambuka po. Onghee hano tave li luku Hakore. Yo i li nonena eli muLehi.
20 Ndele ye okwa pangela Israel mefimbo lOvafilisti omido omilongo mbali.
