Juges 15
1 Et il arriva quelque temps après, pendant les jours de la moisson des froments, que Samson alla visiter sa femme, avec un chevreau; et il dit: Je veux entrer vers ma femme dans la chambre. Mais le père ne lui permit pas d’entrer.
And a while after, when the days of the wheat harvest were at hand, Samson came, meaning to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid of the flock. And when he would have gone into her chamber as usual, her father would not suffer him, saying:
2 Et le père dit: J’ai pensé que tu l’avais en haine, et je l’ai donnée à ton compagnon. Sa jeune sœur n’est-elle pas plus belle qu’elle? Prends-la à sa place, je te prie.
I thought thou hadst hated her, and therefore I gave her to thy friend: but she hath a sister, who is younger and fairer than she, take her to wife instead of her.
3 Et Samson leur dit: Cette fois je suis innocent à l’égard des Philistins si je leur fais du mal.
And Samson answered him: From this day I shall be blameless in what I do against the Philistines: for I will do you evils.
4 Et Samson s’en alla, et prit 300 chacals; et il prit des torches, et tourna [les chacals] queue contre queue, et mit une torche entre les deux queues, au milieu.
And he went and caught three hundred foxes, and coupled them tail to tail, and fastened torches between the tails.
5 Et il mit le feu aux torches, et lâcha [les chacals] dans les blés des Philistins; et il brûla tant les tas de gerbes que le blé sur pied et les plantations d’oliviers.
And setting them on fire he let the foxes go, that they might run about hither and thither. And they presently went into the standing corn of the Philistines. Which being set on fire, both the corn that was already carried together, and that which was yet standing, was all burnt, insomuch, that the flame consumed also the vineyards and the oliveyards.
6 Et les Philistins dirent: Qui a fait cela? Et on dit: Samson, le gendre du Thimnite; parce qu’il lui a pris sa femme et l’a donnée à son compagnon. Et les Philistins montèrent, et la brûlèrent au feu, elle et son père.
Then the Philistines said: Who hath done this thing? And it was answered: Samson the son in law of the Thamnathite, because he took away his wife, and gave her to another, hath done these things. And the Philistines went up and burnt both the woman and her father.
7 Et Samson leur dit: Si c’est ainsi que vous faites, alors certes je me vengerai de vous, et après je cesserai.
But Samson said to them: Although you have done this, yet will I be revenged of you, and then I will be quiet.
8 Et il les frappa d’un grand coup, à leur casser bras et jambes. Et il descendit, et habita dans une caverne du rocher d’Étam.
And he made a great slaughter of them, so that in astonishment they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And going down he dwelt in a cavern of the rock Etam.
9 Et les Philistins montèrent, et campèrent en Juda, et se répandirent en Lékhi.
Then the Philistines going up into the land of Juda, camped in the place which afterwards was called Lechi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army was spread.
10 Et les hommes de Juda dirent: Pourquoi êtes-vous montés contre nous? Et ils dirent: Nous sommes montés pour lier Samson, afin de lui faire comme il nous a fait.
And the men of the tribe of Juda said to them: Why are you come up against us? They answered: We are come to bind Samson, and to pay him for what he hath done against us.
11 Et 3 000 hommes de Juda descendirent à la caverne du rocher d’Étam, et dirent à Samson: Ne sais-tu pas que les Philistins dominent sur nous? Et que nous as-tu fait? Et il leur dit: Comme ils m’ont fait, ainsi je leur ai fait.
Wherefore three thousand men of Juda, went down to the cave of the rock Etam, and said to Samson: Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? Why wouldst thou do thus? And he said to them: As they did to me, so have I done to them.
12 Et ils lui dirent: Nous sommes descendus pour te lier, afin de te livrer en la main des Philistins. Et Samson leur dit: Jurez-moi que vous ne vous jetterez pas sur moi.
And they said to him, We are come to bind thee and to deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them: Swear to me, and promise me, that you will not kill me.
13 Et ils lui parlèrent, disant: Non, mais nous voulons te lier, et nous te livrerons en leur main; mais certainement nous ne te tuerons pas. Et ils le lièrent avec deux cordes neuves, et le firent monter hors du rocher.
They said: We will not kill thee: but we will deliver thee up bound. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him from the rock Etam.
14 Il vint jusqu’à Lékhi, et les Philistins poussèrent des cris à sa rencontre. Et l’Esprit de l’Éternel le saisit; et les cordes qui étaient à ses bras devinrent comme de l’étoupe qui brûle au feu, et ses liens coulèrent de dessus ses mains.
Now when he was come to the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines shouting went to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came strongly upon him: and as the flax is wont to be consumed at the approach of fire, so the bands with which he was bound were broken and loosed.
15 Et il trouva une mâchoire d’âne fraîche, et il étendit sa main et la prit, et en frappa 1 000 hommes.
And finding a jawbone, even the jawbone of an ass which lay there, catching it up, be slew therewith a thousand men.
16 Et Samson dit: Avec la mâchoire de l’âne, un monceau, deux monceaux! Avec la mâchoire de l’âne j’ai frappé 1 000 hommes.
And he said: With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of asses I have destroyed them, and have slain a thousand men.
17 Et il arriva que, quand il eut achevé de parler, il jeta de sa main la mâchoire, et nomma ce lieu-là Ramath-Lékhi.
And when he had ended these words singing, he threw the jawbone out of his hand, and called the name of that place Ramathlechi, which is interpreted the lifting up of the jawbone.
18 Et il eut une très grande soif, et il cria à l’Éternel, et dit: Tu as donné par la main de ton serviteur cette grande délivrance, et maintenant je mourrais de soif, et je tomberais entre les mains des incirconcis!
Arid being very thirsty, he cried to the Lord, and said: Thou hast given this very great deliverance and victory into the hand of thy servant: and behold I die for thirst, and shall fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.
19 Et Dieu fendit le rocher creux qui était à Lékhi, et il en sortit de l’eau; et il but, et son esprit revint, et il vécut: c’est pourquoi le nom de cette [source] fut appelé En-Hakkoré; elle est à Lékhi, jusqu’à ce jour.
Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of the ass, and waters issued out of it. And when he had drank them he refreshed his spirit, and recovered his strength. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Spring of him that invoked from the jawbone, until this present day.
20 Et [Samson] jugea Israël, aux jours des Philistins, 20 ans.
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
