Jueces 15
1 Algún tiempo después, cuando se estaba cosechando el trigo, Sansón fue a visitar a su mujer, llevando consigo un cabrito de regalo. “Quiero ir a ver a mi mujer a su habitación”, le dijo al llegar, pero su padre no lo dejó entrar.
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 “Pensé que la odiabas por completo y por eso se la di a tu padrino”, le dijo a Sansón. “Pero su hermana menor es aún más atractiva; ¿por qué no te casas con ella en su lugar?”.
“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 “Esta vez no se me puede culpar por los problemas que le voy a causar a los filisteos”, declaró Sansón.
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 Entonces fue y atrapó trescientas zorras y les ató las colas, de dos en dos.
And he went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he joined them tail to tail. And he tied torches between the tails.
5 Ató una antorcha a cada una de las colas atadas y les prendió fuego. Luego las soltó en los campos de cereales de los filisteos y prendió fuego a todo el grano, cosechado y no cosechado, así como a los viñedos y olivares.
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 “¿Quién ha hecho esto?”, preguntaron los filisteos. “Fue Sansón, el yerno del hombre de Timná”, les dijeron. “Ese hombre le dio la mujer de Sansón al padrino de Sansón”. Entonces los filisteos fueron y la quemaron a ella y a su padre hasta la muerte.
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 Sansón les dijo: “¡Si así van a actuar, no pararé hasta vengarme de ustedes!”
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 Entonces los atacó violentamente, matándolos, y luego se fue a vivir a una cueva en la roca de Etam.
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 Entonces el ejército filisteo llegó y acampó en Judá, preparado para la batalla cerca de Lehi.
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 El pueblo de Judá preguntó: “¿Por qué nos han invadido?” “¡Hemos venido a capturar a Sansón, para hacerle lo mismo que nos ha hecho a nosotros!”, respondieron.
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 Tres mil hombres de Judá fueron a la cueva de la roca de Etam y le preguntaron a Sansón: “¿No entiendes que los filisteos nos dominan? ¿Qué crees que estás haciendo con nosotros?” “Sólo hice lo que ellos me hicieron a mí”, respondió.
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 “Pues bien, hemos venido a tomarte prisionero y a entregarte a los filisteos”, le dijeron. “Sólo júrenme que no me van a matar ustedes”, respondió Sansón.
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 “No, no lo haremos”, le aseguraron. “Sólo te ataremos y te entregaremos a los filisteos. Desde luego, no te vamos a matar”. Lo ataron con dos cuerdas nuevas y lo sacaron de la roca.
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 Cuando Sansón se acercó a Lejí, los filisteos corrieron hacia él, gritándole. Pero el Espíritu del Señor lo invadió, y las cuerdas que le ataban los brazos se debilitaron como el lino quemado, y sus manos se soltaron.
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 Agarró la mandíbula fresca de un asno y con ella mató a mil filisteos.
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 Entonces Sansón declaró: “Con la quijada de un asno he amontonado a los muertos. Con la quijada de un asno he matado a mil hombres”.
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 Cuando Sansón terminó su discurso, tiró la quijada y llamó al lugar Colina de la Quijada.
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 Ahora tenía mucha sed, y Sansón clamó al Señor diciendo: “Tú has logrado esta asombrosa victoria por medio de tu siervo, pero ¿ahora tengo que morir de sed y ser capturado por los paganos?”
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 Entonces Dios abrió una hondonada en Lejí, y salió agua de ella. Sansón bebió, recuperó las fuerzas y se sintió mucho mejor. Por eso le puso el nombre de Manantial del que clama, y hasta el día de hoy sigue allí en Lejí.
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 Sansón dirigió a Israel como juez por veinte años durante el tiempo de los filisteos.
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, for twenty years.
