Judges 15
1 During the time that they harvested wheat, Samson took a young goat to Timnah as a present for his wife. He planned to sleep with [EUP] his wife, but her father would not let him go into [her room].
Post aliquantulum autem temporis, cum dies triticeæ messis instarent, venit Samson, invisere volens uxorem suam, et attulit ei hædum de capris. Cumque cubiculum ejus solito vellet intrare, prohibuit eum pater illius, dicens:
2 He said to Samson, “I really thought that you hated her. So I gave her to the man who had been your best man at the wedding, and she married him. But look, her younger sister is [RHQ] more beautiful than she is. You can marry her!”
Putavi quod odisses eam, et ideo tradidi illam amico tuo: sed habet sororem, quæ junior et pulchrior illa est: sit tibi pro ea uxor.
3 Samson replied, “No! And this time I have a right to get revenge on you Philistines!”
Cui Samson respondit: Ab hac die non erit culpa in me contra Philisthæos: faciam enim vobis mala.
4 Then he went out [into the fields] and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together, two-by-two. He fastened torches to each pair of tails.
Perrexitque et cepit trecentas vulpes, caudasque earum junxit ad caudas, et faces ligavit in medio:
5 Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the fields of the Philistines. The fire [from the torches] burned all the grain to the ground, including the grain that had been cut and piled in bundles. The fire also burned down their grapevines and their olive trees.
quas igne succendens, dimisit ut huc illucque discurrerent. Quæ statim perrexerunt in segetes Philisthinorum. Quibus succensis, et comportatæ jam fruges, et adhuc stantes in stipula, concrematæ sunt, in tantum ut vineas quoque et oliveta flamma consumeret.
6 The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” Someone told them, “Samson did it. He married a woman from Timnah, but then his father-in-law gave her to the man who was Samson’s best man at the wedding, and she married him.” So the Philistines went [to Timnah] and got the woman and her father, and burned them to death.
Dixeruntque Philisthiim: Quis fecit hanc rem? Quibus dictum est: Samson gener Thamnathæi: quia tulit uxorem ejus, et alteri tradidit, hæc operatus est. Ascenderuntque Philisthiim, et combusserunt tam mulierem quam patrem ejus.
7 Samson [found out about that, and he] said to them, “Because you have done this, I will not stop until I get revenge on you!”
Quibus ait Samson: Licet hæc feceritis, tamen adhuc ex vobis expetam ultionem, et tunc quiescam.
8 So he attacked the Philistines furiously, and killed many of them. Then he went [to hide] in a cave in the large rock at a place called Etam.
Percussitque eos ingenti plaga, ita ut stupentes suram femori imponerent. Et descendens habitavit in spelunca petræ Etam.
9 The Philistines [did not know where he was, so they] went up to where the descendants of Judah lived, set up their tents near Lehi [town and then raided the town].
Igitur ascendentes Philisthiim in terram Juda, castrametati sunt in loco, qui postea vocatus est Lechi, id est, Maxilla, ubi eorum effusus est exercitus.
10 The men there asked the Philistines, “Why have you attacked us?” The Philistines replied, “We have come to capture Samson. We have come to get revenge on him for what he did to us.”
Dixeruntque ad eos de tribu Juda: Cur ascendistis adversum nos? Qui responderunt: Ut ligemus Samson venimus, et reddamus ei quæ in nos operatus est.
11 [Someone there knew where Samson was hiding]. So 3,000 men from Judah went down to get Samson at the cave in the rock where he was hiding. They said to Samson, “Do you not realize that the people of Philistia are ruling over us? Do you not realize what they will do to us?” Samson replied, “The only thing I did was that I got revenge on them for what they did to me.”
Descenderunt ergo tria millia virorum de Juda ad specum silicis Etam, dixeruntque ad Samson: Nescis quod Philisthiim imperent nobis? quare hoc facere voluisti? Quibus ille ait: Sicut fecerunt mihi, sic feci eis.
12 But the men from Judah said to him, “We have come to tie you up and put you in the hands of the Philistines.” Samson said, “All right, but promise me that you yourselves will not kill me!”
Ligare, inquiunt, te venimus, et tradere in manus Philisthinorum. Quibus Samson: Jurate, ait, et spondete mihi quod non occidatis me.
13 They replied, “We will just tie you up and take you to the Philistines. We will not kill you.” So they tied him with two new ropes, and led him away from the cave.
Dixerunt: Non te occidemus, sed vinctum trademus. Ligaveruntque eum duobus novis funibus, et tulerunt eum de petra Etam.
14 When they arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came toward him, shouting [triumphantly]. But Yahweh’s Spirit came upon Samson powerfully. He snapped the ropes on his arms as easily as if they were stalks of burned flax, and the ropes fell off his wrists.
Qui cum venisset ad locum Maxillæ, et Philisthiim vociferantes occurrissent ei, irruit spiritus Domini in eum: et sicut solent ad odorem ignis lina consumi, ita vincula, quibus ligatus erat, dissipata sunt et soluta.
15 Then he saw a donkey’s jawbone lying on the ground. It was fresh, [so it was hard]. He picked it up and killed about 1,000 Philistine men with it.
Inventamque maxillam, id est, mandibulam asini, quæ jacebat, arripiens interfecit in ea mille viros,
16 Then Samson wrote this poem: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have made them like a heap of [dead] donkeys. With the jawbone of a donkey I killed 1,000 men.”
et ait: In maxilla asini, in mandibula pulli asinarum, delevi eos, et percussi mille viros.
17 When he finished killing those men, he threw the jawbone away, and later that place was called Jawbone Hill.
Cumque hæc verba canens complesset, projecit mandibulam de manu, et vocavit nomen loci illius Ramathlechi, quod interpretatur, Elevatio maxillæ.
18 Then Samson was very thirsty, so he called out to Yahweh, “You have given me strength to win a great victory. So now must I die because of being thirsty, with the result that those heathen Philistines will take away my body [and mutilate it]?”
Sitiensque valde, clamavit ad Dominum, et ait: Tu dedisti in manu servi tui salutem hanc maximam atque victoriam: en siti morior, incidamque in manus incircumcisorum.
19 So God caused water to gush out of a depression in the ground at Lehi. Samson drank from it and soon felt strong again. He named that place ‘The spring of the one who called out’. That spring is still there at Lehi.
Aperuit itaque Dominus molarem dentem in maxilla asini, et egressæ sunt ex eo aquæ. Quibus haustis, refocillavit spiritum, et vires recepit. Idcirco appellatum est nomen loci illius, Fons invocantis de maxilla, usque in præsentem diem.
20 Samson was the leader of the Israeli people for 20 years, but during that time the Philistines [were the ones who really ruled over the land].
Judicavitque Israël in diebus Philisthiim viginti annis.
