Iudicum 15
1 post aliquantum autem temporis cum dies triticeae messis instarent venit Samson invisere volens uxorem suam et adtulit ei hedum de capris cumque cubiculum eius solito vellet intrare prohibuit eum pater illius dicens
But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He said, “I will go in to my wife’s room.” But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in.
2 putavi quod odisses eam et ideo tradidi illam amico tuo sed habet sororem quae iunior et pulchrior illa est sit tibi pro ea uxor
Her father said, “I most certainly thought that you utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please, take her instead.”
3 cui respondit Samson ab hac die non erit culpa in me contra Philistheos faciam enim vobis mala
Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines when I harm them.”
4 perrexitque et cepit trecentas vulpes caudasque earum iunxit ad caudas et faces ligavit in medio
Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the middle between every two tails.
5 quas igne succendens dimisit ut huc illucque discurrerent quae statim perrexerunt in segetes Philisthinorum quibus succensis et conportatae iam fruges et adhuc stantes in stipula concrematae sunt in tantum ut vineas quoque et oliveta flamma consumeret
When he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the olive groves.
6 dixeruntque Philisthim quis fecit hanc rem quibus dictum est Samson gener Thamnathei quia tulit uxorem eius et alteri tradidit haec operatus est ascenderuntque Philisthim et conbuserunt tam mulierem quam patrem eius
Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” They said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” The Philistines came up, and burned her and her father with fire.
7 quibus ait Samson licet haec feceritis tamen adhuc ex vobis expetam ultionem et tunc quiescam
Samson said to them, “If you behave like this, surely I will take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.”
8 percussitque eos ingenti plaga ita ut stupentes suram femori inponerent et descendens habitavit in spelunca petrae Aetham
He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock.
9 igitur ascendentes Philisthim in terra Iuda castrametati sunt et in loco qui postea vocatus est Lehi id est Maxilla eorum est fusus exercitus
Then the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 dixeruntque ad eos de tribu Iuda cur ascendistis adversum nos qui responderunt ut ligemus Samson venimus et reddamus ei quae in nos operatus est
The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”
11 descenderunt ergo tria milia virorum de Iuda ad specum silicis Aetham dixeruntque ad Samson nescis quod Philisthim imperent nobis quare hoc facere voluisti quibus ille ait sicut fecerunt mihi feci eis
Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in Etam’s rock, and said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
12 ligare inquiunt te venimus et tradere in manus Philisthinorum iurate respondit mihi quod non me occidatis
They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”
13 dixerunt non te occidimus sed vinctum tradimus ligaveruntque eum duobus novis funibus et tulerunt de petra Aetham
They spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you securely and deliver you into their hands; but surely we will not kill you.” They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14 qui cum venisset ad locum Maxillae et Philisthim vociferantes occurrissent ei inruit spiritus Domini in eum et sicut solent ad odorem ignis lina consumi ita vincula quibus ligatus erat dissipata sunt et soluta
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire; and his bands dropped from off his hands.
15 inventamque maxillam id est mandibulam asini quae iacebat arripiens interfecit in ea mille viros
He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
16 et ait in maxilla asini in mandibula pulli asinarum delevi eos et percussi mille viros
Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.”
17 cumque haec canens verba conplesset proiecit mandibulam de manu et vocavit nomen loci illius Ramathlehi quod interpretatur elevatio Maxillae
When he had finished speaking, he threw 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 et en siti morior incidamque in manus incircumcisorum
He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
19 aperuit itaque Dominus molarem dentem in maxilla asini et egressae sunt ex eo aquae quibus haustis refocilavit spiritum et vires recepit idcirco appellatum est nomen loci illius Fons invocantis de maxilla usque in praesentem diem
But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day.
20 iudicavitque Israhel in diebus Philisthim viginti annis
He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
