Iudicum 15
1 Post aliquantulum autem temporis, cum dies triticeæ messis instarent, venit Samson, invisere volens uxorem suam, et attulit ei hœdum de capris. Cumque cubiculum eius solito vellet intrare, prohibuit eum pater illius, dicens:
But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said: 'I will go in to my wife into the chamber.' But her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 Putavi quod odisses eam, et ideo tradidi illam amico tuo: sed habet sororem, quæ iunior et pulchrior illa est, sit tibi pro ea uxor.
And her father said: 'I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion; is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.'
3 Cui Samson respondit: Ab hac die non erit culpa in me contra Philisthæos: faciam enim vobis mala.
And Samson said unto them: 'This time shall I be quits with the Philistines, when I do them a mischief.'
4 Perrexitque et cepit trecentas vulpes, caudasque earum iunxit ad caudas, et faces ligavit in medio:
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between every two tails.
5 quas igne succendens, dimisit, ut huc illucque discurrerent. Quæ statim perrexerunt in segetes Philisthinorum. Quibus succensis, et comportatæ iam fruges, et adhuc stantes in stipula, concrematæ sunt, in tantum, ut vineas quoque et oliveta flamma consumeret.
And when he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing corn, and also the oliveyards.
6 Dixeruntque Philisthiim: Quis fecit hanc rem? Quibus dictum est: Samson gener Thamnathæi: quia tulit uxorem eius, et alteri tradidit, hæc operatus est. Ascenderuntque Philisthiim: et combusserunt tam mulierem quam patrem eius.
Then the Philistines said: 'Who hath done this?' And they said: 'Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion.' And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 Quibus ait Samson: Licet hæc feceritis, tamen adhuc ex vobis expetam ultionem, et tunc quiescam.
And Samson said unto them: 'If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.'
8 Percussitque eos ingenti plaga, ita ut stupentes suram femori imponerent. Et descendens habitavit in spelunca petræ Etam.
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
9 Igitur ascendentes Philisthiim in Terram Iuda castrametati sunt in loco, qui postea vocatus est Lechi, id est, maxilla, ubi eorum effusus est exercitus.
Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves against Lehi.
10 Dixeruntque ad eos de tribu Iuda: Cur ascendistis adversum nos? Qui responderunt: Ut ligemus Samson, venimus, et reddamus ei quæ in nos operatus est.
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 hath done to us.'
11 Descenderunt ergo tria millia virorum de Iuda, 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.
Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson: 'Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done unto us?' And he said unto them: 'As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.'
12 Ligare, inquiunt, te venimus, et tradere in manus Philisthinorum. Quibus Samson, Iurate, ait, et spondete mihi quod non occidatis me.
And they said unto him: 'We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.' And Samson said unto them: 'Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.'
13 Dixerunt: Non te occidemus, sed vinctum trademus. Ligaveruntque eum duobus novis funibus, et tulerunt eum de petra Etam.
And they spoke unto him, saying: 'No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand; but surely we will not kill thee.' And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14 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.
When he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.
15 Inventamque maxillam, id est, mandibulam asini, quæ iacebat, arripiens, interfecit in ea mille viros,
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith.
16 et ait: In maxilla asini, in mandibula pulli asinarum delevi eos, et percussi mille viros.
And Samson said: With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.
17 Cumque hæc verba canens complesset, proiecit mandibulam de manu, et vocavit nomen loci illius Ramathlechi, quod interpretatur elevatio maxillæ.
And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath-lehi.
18 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.
And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said: 'Thou hast given this great deliverance by the hand of Thy servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?'
19 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.
But God cleaved the hollow place that is in Lehi, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came back, and he revived; wherefore the name thereof was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
20 Iudicavitque Israel in diebus Philisthiim viginti annis.
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
