1 Kombunda yoruveze rworive momayuva womakondero wovikokotwa, Simson wa kavarura omukazendu we ne mu twarere ongombona. Neye wa tja nai ku ihe yomukazendu we: “Me vanga okuhita metuwo romukazendu wandje.”
Nungwari ihe yomukazendu ke mu yandjerere okuhita. 2 Nu ihe yomukazendu wa tja ku Simson: “Ami, tjiri, mba tjangovasi ko na ko na tja na ye, opu mbe mu yandjera ku umwe womapanga woye ngwe ku ṱikire morukupo kutja a rire omukazendu we. Nungwari ingwi omuangu womukazendu woye omuwa pu ye. Eye ongu ma sokurira omukazendu woye moruveze rwe.”
3 Nu Simson wa tja ku wo: “Otjikando hi ami me rire omuhinandjo tji mba tjiti navi kOvafilisti.” 4 Simson otja ya na kapata ozombandje omasere yetatu. Tjazumba arire tja toora omamunine na kutu omitjira vyozombandje nḓa kovivarivari kumwe, na kutu omamunine nga pokati kavyo. 5 Neye wa kamburisa omamunine nga na hingire ozombandje movikunino vyOvafilisti vyovikokotwa na movikokotwa, mbi hiya kondwa. Komuhingo mbwi otja nyosa omikuta vyovikokotwa, novikokotwa mbi hiya kondwa puna omivite nomiṋinga wina. 6 NOvafilisti va pura ave tja: “Owaṋi ngwa tjiti nai?” Nowo va zira nai: “OSimson, ingwi omukwe wOmutimna, omukwe we ihe tjinga e mu yeka omukazendu ne mu yandja kepanga ra Simson.” Ovafilisti otji ve ya nave nyosa omukazendu ngwi nonganda ya ihe.
7 Simson wa tja nai ku wo: “Tji mamu tjiti nao, ami, tjiri, himee suva, ngunda ambi hiye mu sutisa otjiṋa hi.”
8 Neye we ve rwisa noutwe na zepa ovengi tjinene. Nu wa ya na kakara mondimba ya Etam.
Simson ma havere Ovafilisti
9 NOvafilisti ve ya, ave tono ozondanda mOjuda nave rwisa otjihuro Lehi. 10 NOvajuda va pura ave tja: “Mamu tu rwisire tjike?”
Nowo va zira nai: “Eṱe twe ya okupandeka Simson nokumutjita otja eye tje tu tjita.” 11 Novarumendu Ovajuda omayovi yetatu va ya kondimba ya Etam, nave katja nai ku Simson: “Ove ko nokutjiwa kutja Ovafilisti ve tu honaparera are? Nambano ove wa tjiti tjike ku eṱe?”
Neye wa zira a tja: “Owo punga ava tjita ku ami, ami opunga amba tjita ku wo.”
12 Nowo va tja ku ye: “Eṱe twe ya okukupandeka kutja tu kekuyandje kOvafilisti.”
Simson wa tja: “Ndji yaneneye kutja kaweṋe oveni mbu mamu ndji zepa.”
13 Nowo ve mu zira ave tja: “Ayee, kako; eṱe matu ku pandeke uriri nokukuyandja ku wo. Nungwari, tjiri, eṱe katu nokukuzepa.” Nowo otji ve mu pandeka nozongoze mbari ozombe nave mu pitisa mondimba okumutwara kozondanda zOvafilisti.
14 Nu tje ya kOlehi, Ovafilisti ve mu tjakanena nombimbi. Nungwari ombepo ya Muhona ya harisa Simson omasa, neye wa pora inḓa ozongoze nḓa pandeka omaoko we tjimuna ozosepa nḓa pi momuriro; nomapando otji ya poṋoṋoka pomaoko we. 15 Nu tjazumba otja muna eṱupa roruyeo orutarazu rwokasino, arire tje ri toora na zepa na ro ovarumendu eyovi rimwe. 16 Nu Simson wa imbura a tja:
“Neṱupa roruyeo rwokasino ami mbe ve tona; neṱupa roruyeo rwokasino ami mba zepa ovarumendu eyovi rimwe.” 17 Tja za nokuravaera omambo nga arire tja nakaura indwi oruyeo ndwa ri na ro meke re. Nu poṋa mbo we pe ruka Ramat-Lehi, okutja Ondunda yOruyeo.
18 Simson wa ṱonyota tjinene, notja ravaera ku Muhona a tja: “Ove omuini wa yandja outoṋi mbwi ounene komukarere woye; nambano hi ṱonyota, mbi koke nu mbi kamburwe i Ovafilisti ovanavisenginina are?” 19 Ndjambi wa taura oruuwa mOndunda yOruyeo imo mOlehi, nu mu ro mwa pupa omeva. Simson wa nwa, a hara omasa na kotora omuinyo. Komuhingo mbwi oruharwi ndo ndu ri mOlehi opu rwa rukirwa Oruharwi rwOmuravaere nga ku ndinondi.
20 Simson wa ri omunane mOisrael oure wozombura omirongo vivari moruveze rwouhonapare wOvafilisti.
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.
