Κριταί 15
1 καὶ ἐγένετο μεθ’ ἡμέρας ἐν ἡμέραις θερισμοῦ πυρῶν καὶ ἐπεσκέψατο Σαμψων τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐρίφῳ αἰγῶν καὶ εἶπεν εἰσελεύσομαι πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκά μου εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖον καὶ οὐκ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς εἰσελθεῖν
Then, after some time, when the days of the wheat harvest were near, Samson arrived, intending to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid from the goats. And when he wanted to enter her bedroom, as usual, her father prohibited him, saying:
2 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς λέγων εἶπα ὅτι μισῶν ἐμίσησας αὐτήν καὶ ἔδωκα αὐτὴν ἑνὶ τῶν ἐκ τῶν φίλων σου μὴ οὐχὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς ἡ νεωτέρα αὐτῆς ἀγαθωτέρα ὑπὲρ αὐτήν ἔστω δή σοι ἀντὶ αὐτῆς
“I thought that you would hate her, and therefore I gave her to your friend. But she has a sister, who is younger and more beautiful than she is. And she may be a wife for you, instead of her.”
3 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων ἠθῴωμαι καὶ τὸ ἅπαξ ἀπὸ ἀλλοφύλων ὅτι ποιῶ ἐγὼ μετ’ αὐτῶν πονηρίαν
And Samson answered him: “From this day, there shall be no guilt for me against the Philistines. For I will do harm to you all.”
4 καὶ ἐπορεύθη Σαμψων καὶ συνέλαβεν τριακοσίας ἀλώπεκας καὶ ἔλαβεν λαμπάδας καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν κέρκον πρὸς κέρκον καὶ ἔθηκεν λαμπάδα μίαν ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν δύο κέρκων καὶ ἔδησεν
And he went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he joined them tail to tail. And he tied torches between the tails.
5 καὶ ἐξέκαυσεν πῦρ ἐν ταῖς λαμπάσιν καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐν τοῖς στάχυσιν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἐκάησαν ἀπὸ ἅλωνος καὶ ἕως σταχύων ὀρθῶν καὶ ἕως ἀμπελῶνος καὶ ἐλαίας
And setting these on fire, he released them, so that they might rush from place to place. And immediately they went into the grain fields of the Philistines, setting these on fire, both the grain that was already bound for carrying, and what was still standing on the stalk. These were completely burned up, so much so that the flame also consumed even the vineyards and the olive groves.
6 καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι τίς ἐποίησεν ταῦτα καὶ εἶπαν Σαμψων ὁ νυμφίος τοῦ Θαμνι ὅτι ἔλαβεν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν τῷ ἐκ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνέβησαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι καὶ ἐνέπρησαν αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν πατέρα αὐτῆς ἐν πυρί
And the Philistines said, “Who has done this thing?” And it was said: “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took away his wife, and gave her to another. He has done these things.” And the Philistines went up and burned the woman as well as her father.
7 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων ἐὰν ποιήσητε οὕτως ταύτην ὅτι εἰ μὴν ἐκδικήσω ἐν ὑμῖν καὶ ἔσχατον κοπάσω
And Samson said to them, “Even though you have done this, I will still fulfill vengeance against you, and then I will be quieted.”
8 καὶ ἐπάταξεν αὐτοὺς κνήμην ἐπὶ μηρὸν πληγὴν μεγάλην καὶ κατέβη καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν τρυμαλιᾷ τῆς πέτρας Ηταμ
And he struck them with a tremendous slaughter, so much so that, out of astonishment, they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And descending, he lived in a cave of the rock at Etam.
9 καὶ ἀνέβησαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι καὶ παρενέβαλον ἐν Ιουδα καὶ ἐξερρίφησαν ἐν Λευι
And so the Philistines, ascending into the land of Judah, made camp at the place which was later called Lehi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army spread out.
10 καὶ εἶπαν ἀνὴρ Ιουδα εἰς τί ἀνέβητε ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς καὶ εἶπον οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι δῆσαι τὸν Σαμψων ἀνέβημεν καὶ ποιῆσαι αὐτῷ ὃν τρόπον ἐποίησεν ἡμῖν
And some from the tribe of Judah said to them, “Why have you ascended against us?” And they responded, “We have come to bind Samson, and to repay him for what he has done to us.”
11 καὶ κατέβησαν τρισχίλιοι ἄνδρες ἀπὸ Ιουδα εἰς τρυμαλιὰν πέτρας Ηταμ καὶ εἶπαν τῷ Σαμψων οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι κυριεύουσιν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι ἡμῶν καὶ τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας ἡμῖν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων ὃν τρόπον ἐποίησάν μοι οὕτως ἐποίησα αὐτοῖς
Then three thousand men of Judah descended to the cave of the rock at Etam. And they said to Samson: “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why would you want to do this?” And he said to them, “As they have done to me, so I have done to them.”
12 καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ δῆσαί σε κατέβημεν τοῦ δοῦναί σε ἐν χειρὶ ἀλλοφύλων καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων ὀμόσατέ μοι μήποτε συναντήσητε ἐν ἐμοὶ ὑμεῖς
And they said to him, “We have come to bind you, and to deliver you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear and promise to me that you will not kill me.”
13 καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ λέγοντες οὐχί ὅτι ἀλλ’ ἢ δεσμῷ δήσομέν σε καὶ παραδώσομέν σε ἐν χειρὶ αὐτῶν καὶ θανάτῳ οὐ θανατώσομέν σε καὶ ἔδησαν αὐτὸν ἐν δυσὶ καλωδίοις καινοῖς καὶ ἀνήνεγκαν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας ἐκείνης
They said: “We will not kill you. But we will deliver you tied.” And they bound him with two new cords. And they took him from the rock at Etam.
14 καὶ ἦλθον ἕως σιαγόνος καὶ οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι ἠλάλαξαν καὶ ἔδραμον εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἥλατο ἐπ’ αὐτὸν πνεῦμα κυρίου καὶ ἐγενήθη τὰ καλώδια τὰ ἐπὶ βραχίοσιν αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ στιππύον ὃ ἐξεκαύθη ἐν πυρί καὶ ἐτάκησαν δεσμοὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ
And when he had arrived at the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines, shouting aloud, had met him, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. And just as flax is usually consumed by a hint of fire, so were the ties with which he was bound broken and released.
15 καὶ εὗρεν σιαγόνα ὄνου ἐκρεριμμένην καὶ ἐξέτεινεν τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐπάταξεν ἐν αὐτῇ χιλίους ἄνδρας
And finding a jawbone which was laying there, that is, the jawbone of a donkey, snatching it up, he put to death a thousand men with it.
16 καὶ εἶπεν Σαμψων ἐν σιαγόνι ὄνου ἐξαλείφων ἐξήλειψα αὐτούς ὅτι ἐν τῇ σιαγόνι τοῦ ὄνου ἐπάταξα χιλίους ἄνδρας
And he said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, with the jaw of the colt of a donkey, I have destroyed them, and I have struck down a thousand men.”
17 καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἐπαύσατο λαλῶν καὶ ἔρριψεν τὴν σιαγόνα ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ἀναίρεσις σιαγόνος
And when he had completed these words, singing, he threw the jawbone from his hand. And called the name of that place Ramath-Lehi, which is translated as ‘the elevation of the jawbone.’
18 καὶ ἐδίψησεν σφόδρα καὶ ἔκλαυσεν πρὸς κύριον καὶ εἶπεν σὺ εὐδόκησας ἐν χειρὶ δούλου σου τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν μεγάλην ταύτην καὶ νῦν ἀποθανοῦμαι τῷ δίψει καὶ ἐμπεσοῦμαι ἐν χειρὶ τῶν ἀπεριτμήτων
And being very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, and he said: “You have given, to the hand of your servant, this very great salvation and victory. But see that I am dying of thirst, and so I will fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.”
19 καὶ ἔρρηξεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν λάκκον τὸν ἐν τῇ σιαγόνι καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὕδωρ καὶ ἔπιεν καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔζησεν διὰ τοῦτο ἐκλήθη τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς πηγὴ τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου ἥ ἐστιν ἐν σιαγόνι ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης
And so the Lord opened a large tooth in the jawbone of the donkey, and water went out from it. And having drank it, his spirit was revived, and he recovered his strength. For this reason, the name of that place was called ‘the Spring called forth from the jawbone,’ even to the present day.
20 καὶ ἔκρινεν τὸν Ισραηλ ἐν ἡμέραις ἀλλοφύλων εἴκοσι ἔτη
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, for twenty years.
