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.
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.
