Samson and the Woman from Timnah
1 One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he noticed a certain young Philistine woman. 2 He went back home and told his father and mother, “There is a Philistine woman down at Timnah who caught my attention. Get her for me; I want to marry her.”
3 But his father and mother asked him, “Why do you have to go to those heathen Philistines to get a wife? Can't you find someone in our own clan, among all our people?”
But Samson told his father, “She is the one I want you to get for me. I like her.”
4 His parents did not know that it was the Lord who was leading Samson to do this, for the Lord was looking for a chance to fight the Philistines. At this time the Philistines were ruling Israel.
5 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. As they were going through the vineyards there, he heard a young lion roaring. 6 Suddenly the power of the Lord made Samson strong, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his parents what he had done.
7 Then he went and talked to the young woman, and he liked her. 8 A few days later Samson went back to marry her. On the way he left the road to look at the lion he had killed, and he was surprised to find a swarm of bees and some honey inside the dead body. 9 He scraped the honey out into his hands and ate it as he walked along. Then he went to his father and mother and gave them some. They ate it, but Samson did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the dead body of a lion.
10 His father went to the woman's house, and Samson gave a banquet there. This was a custom among the young men. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they sent thirty young men to stay with him. 12-13 Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. I'll bet each one of you a piece of fine linen and a change of fine clothes that you can't tell me its meaning before the seven days of the wedding feast are over.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let's hear it.”
14 He said,
“Out of the eater came something to eat;
Out of the strong came something sweet.”
Three days later they had still not figured out what the riddle meant.
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, “Trick your husband into telling us what the riddle means. If you don't, we'll set fire to your father's house and burn you with it. You two invited us so that you could rob us, didn't you?”
16 So Samson's wife went to him in tears and said, “You don't love me! You just hate me! You told my friends a riddle and didn't tell me what it means!”
He said, “Look, I haven't even told my father and mother. Why should I tell you?” 17 She cried about it for the whole seven days of the feast. But on the seventh day he told her what the riddle meant, for she nagged him so about it. Then she told the Philistines. 18 So on the seventh day, before Samson went into the bedroom, the men of the city said to him,
“What could be sweeter than honey?
What could be stronger than a lion?”
Samson replied,
“If you hadn't been plowing with my cow,
You wouldn't know the answer now.”
19 Suddenly the power of the Lord made him strong, and he went down to Ashkelon, where he killed thirty men, stripped them, and gave their fine clothes to the men who had solved the riddle. After that, he went back home, furious about what had happened, 20 and his wife was given to the man that had been his best man at the wedding.
Simson nomukadhona gwokuTimna
1 Esiku limwe Simson okwa yi kuTimna, nkoka i itsu omukadhona Omufilisti. 2 Okwa shuna kaandjawo e ta ti kaakuluntu ye: “Onde endela omukadhona Omufilisti kuTimna. Ke mu talelii ndje; onda hala oku mu hokana.”
3 Ihe aakuluntu ye oye mu pula: “Omolwashike to yi kumboka aapagani Aafilisti, u kuthe ko omukiintu? Ito vulu okukutha omukiintu moludhi lwetu, mokati koshigwana shetu?”
Ihe Simson okwa ti kuhe: “Oye awike nda hala, mu ke mu talele ndje. Ondi mu hole.”
4 Aakuluntu ye inaa tseya kutya Omuwa okwa li te enditha Simson okuninga ngeyi, oshoka Omuwa okwa li ta kongo olweedhe lwo opala okukondjitha Aafilisti. Pethimbo ndika Aafilisti oya li taa pangele Israel.
5 Osho ngaaka Simson okwa yi kuTimna pamwe naakuluntu ye. Manga ya li taa yi koshitsambe shomiviinu, oku uvu onkoshi ongundjuka tayi pumbu. 6 Ohaluka oonkondo dhOmuwa dhe ya muSimson, nokwa toogonyona onkoshi niikaha ye, oto ti omuntu ta toogonyona onkombwena. Ihe ina lombwela nando aakuluntu ye shoka a ningi.
7 Okwa yi nduno e ta popi nomukadhona nokwa li e mu hokwa. 8 Omasiku gamwe sho ga piti po, Simson okwa shuna ko ishewe, e ke mu hokane. Mondjila okwa peguka mo, a tale onkoshi ndjoka a dhipagele, nokwa li a kumwa, sho a mono ehunga lyoonyushi nomagadhi gadho ge li molukolo lwonkoshi ndjoka ya sa. 9 Okwa kogonyona mo omagadhi goonyushi niikaha ye e te ga li, manga te ende. Nena okwa yi kaakuluntu ye e te ya pe ko wo. Oye ga li, ihe Simson ine ya lombwela kutya okwe ga kutha molukolo lwonkoshi ya sa.
10 He yaSimson okwa yi kaandjamukadhona, naSimson okwa ningi omatelekela hwiyaka. Shika osha li omukalo mokati kaagundjuka. 11 Aafilisti sho ye mu mono, oya tumu aagundjuka aamati omilongo ndatu, ya kale puye. 12-13 Simson okwa ti kuyo: “Nandi mu pule otumbutumbu. Otandi mbetse nakehe gumwe gwomune ohema yoliina ya thola nomutsuhu gwuufuuli nokutya itamu vulu okulombwela ndje momasiku ngaka gaheyali gohango kutya otayi ti ngiini.”
Oyo ya ti kuye: “Tu lombwela otumbutumbu yoye.”
14 Okwa ti:
“Iikulya oya zi momufukedhi;
uutoye owa zi momunankondo.”
Oya kala ya nyengwa uule womasiku gatatu okutseya otumbutumbu.
15 Mesiku etine oya ti kumukadhaSimson: “Enda omulumentu gwoye miineya, u tu lombwele kutya otumbutumbu otayi ti ngiini. Ngele hasho, otatu ka tomeka egumbo lyaho omulilo e tatu mu lungunithile mo. Omwe tu hiya nani, mu tu yuge! Hasho?”
16 MukadhaSimson okwe ya kuye ta lili e ta ti: “Ngoye ku hole ndje! Ou tonde ndje! Owa pula yakwetu otumbutumbu ngoye ino lombwela ndje kutya otayi ti ngiini.”
Simson okwa ti kuye: “Tala, inandi yi lombwela nande otate nameme. Omolwashike ndi na oku yi ku lombwela?” 17 Oye a lili omasiku ngoka agehe gaheyali gohango. Ihe mesiku etiheyali Simson okwe mu lombwele shoka otumbutumbu tayi ti, oshoka omufuko okwe mu tsitsimike unene. Nena omukiintu okwa lombwele Aafilisti. 18 Mesiku etiheyali manga Simson inaa ka lala, aantu yomoshilando oya ti kuye:
“Oshike oshitoye shi vule omagadhi goonyushi?
Oshike shi na oonkondo shi vule onkoshi?”
Simson okwa yamukula:
“Ando omwa li inaamu pululitha ontana yandje,
ando inamu tseya eyamukulo.”
19 Ohaluka oonkondo dhOmuwa odhe ya muye nokwa yi kuAshkelon e ta dhipaga aalumentu omilongo ndatu e ta kutha ko oonguwo dhawo dhuufuuli e te dhi pe aalumentu mboka ya fatulula otumbutumbu. Konima yaashika okwa yi kegumbo nokwa li a ngunya, a geele shoka sha ningwa po. 20 Omufuko gwe okwa kuthwa po koshinkumbi she.
