< Juges 15 >
1 Au bout d’un certain temps, à l’époque de la récolte des blés, Samson voulut revoir sa femme et lui apporta un jeune chevreau, en disant: "Je désire aller auprès de ma femme, dans sa chambre"; mais le père de sa femme ne lui permit pas d’y entrer.
And it came to pass after a time, in the days of the wheat-harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of the goats. And he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber; but her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 "J’Ai pensé sérieusement, dit-il, que tu l’avais prise en haine, et je l’ai donnée à l’un de tes compagnons. Du reste, sa sœur cadette est mieux qu’elle, prends-la à sa place."
And her father said, I verily thought that thou didst utterly hate her; therefore I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Let her, I pray thee, be thine instead of her.
3 "Cela étant, répondit Samson, les Philistins ne pourront s’en prendre à moi si je leur fais du mal."
And Samson said to them, This time I am blameless toward the Philistines, though I do them harm.
4 Là-dessus il s’en alla prendre trois cents chacals, se munit de torches, et, attachant les animaux queue à queue, fixa une torche entre chaque paire de queues;
And Samson went and caught three hundred jackals, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between the two tails.
5 puis, ayant mis le feu aux torches, il lâcha les chacals dans les blés des Philistins et les incendia, blés en meule et blés sur pied, et jusqu’aux plants d’oliviers.
And he set the torches on fire, and let [them] run into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, and the olive gardens.
6 Les Philistins demandèrent: "Qui a fait cela?" On leur dit: "C’Est Samson, le gendre du Timnite, parce que celui-ci a pris sa femme et l’a donnée à son compagnon." Et ils allèrent, et ils brûlèrent cette femme avec son père.
And the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burned her and her father with fire.
7 Samson leur dit: "Puisque vous agissez de la sorte, il faut que je me venge sur vous-mêmes, et alors seulement je serai tranquille."
And Samson said to them, If ye act thus, for a certainty I will avenge myself on you, and then I will cease.
8 Et il les battit dos et ventre, ce fut une défaite considérable, après quoi il se retira dans un creux de rocher près d’Etam.
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the cliff Etam.
9 Les Philistins montèrent alors au pays de Juda, y établirent leur camp et se déployèrent vers Léhi.
And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 Les hommes de Juda leur dirent: "Pourquoi venez-vous nous attaquer?" Ils répondirent: "C’Est pour prendre Samson que nous sommes venus, voulant lui rendre le mal qu’il nous a fait."
And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they said, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he has done to us.
11 Alors trois mille hommes de Juda descendirent au creux du rocher d’Etam, et dirent à Samson: "Ne sais-tu pas que les Philistins sont nos maîtres? Qu’est-ce donc que tu nous as fait là!" Il répondit: "Je les ai traités comme ils m’ont traité."
Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the cliff Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? And what is this that thou hast done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.
12 Ils reprirent: "Nous sommes venus pour t’enchaîner et te livrer aux Philistins." Et Samson leur dit: "Jurez-moi que vous ne voulez point me frapper!"
And they said to him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may give thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me that ye will not fall on me yourselves.
13 "Nullement, lui dirent-ils; nous voulons seulement te lier et te livrer à eux, mais nous ne te ferons pas mourir." Et ils le lièrent avec deux cordes neuves, et l’emmenèrent hors du rocher.
And they spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand; but we certainly shall not put thee to death. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the cliff.
14 Comme il arrivait à Léhi et que les Philistins l’accueillaient avec des cris de triomphe, l’esprit divin le saisit, et les cordes qui serraient ses bras devinrent comme du lin roussi au feu, et les liens tombèrent de ses bras.
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and the cords that were on his arms became as threads of flax that are burned with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
15 Apercevant une mâchoire d’âne encore fraîche, il avança la main et s’en saisit, et en frappa un millier d’hommes.
And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew with it a thousand men.
16 Et Samson s’écria: "Une troupe, deux troupes, vaincues par une mâchoire d’âne! Par une mâchoire d’âne, mille hommes en déroute!…"
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 En achevant ces mots il jeta la mâchoire à terre; et l’on appela ce lieu Ramath-Léhi.
And it came to pass when he had ended speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-Lehi.
18 Comme il était fort altéré, il invoqua l’Eternel en disant: "Toi qui as assuré à la main de ton serviteur cette grande victoire, le laisseras-tu maintenant mourir de soif et tomber au pouvoir des incirconcis?"
And he was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given by the hand of thy servant this great deliverance, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 Dieu fendit la roche concave de Léhi, et il en sortit de l’eau; Samson but, revint à lui et fut réconforté. De là cette source s’est appelée, jusqu’à ce jour, la Source de l’Invocateur à Léhi.
And God clave the hallow rock which was in Lehi, and water came out of it. And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.
20 Samson gouverna Israël, à l’époque des Philistins, vingt années.
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.