Waamuzi 15
1 Baada ya kitambo kidogo, wakati wa mavuno ya ngano, Samsoni akachukua mwana-mbuzi, kwenda kumzuru mkewe. Akasema, “Nataka kuingia chumbani kwa mke wangu.” Lakini baba yake huyo mwanamke hakumruhusu kuingia.
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 Huyo baba mkwe wake akamwambia, “Nilikuwa na hakika kwamba ulimkataa, hivyo mimi nikampa rafiki yako. Je, mdogo wake wa kike si mzuri zaidi kuliko yeye? Mchukue huyo badala yake.”
“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 Samsoni akawaambia, “Wakati huu, nitakapowadhuru Wafilisti, sitakuwa na lawama.”
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 Hivyo Samsoni akatoka akawakamata mbweha 300 na kuwafunga wawili wawili kwa mikia yao kila mmoja kwa mwingine. Kisha akafungia mwenge wa moto, kwenye mikia ya kila jozi moja ya mbweha aliyokuwa ameifunga,
And he went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he joined them tail to tail. And he tied torches between the tails.
5 akawasha ile mienge na kuwaachia wale mbweha katika mashamba ya Wafilisti ya nafaka zilizosimamishwa katika matita. Akateketeza matita ya nafaka zilizosimama, pamoja na mashamba ya mizabibu na viunga vya mizeituni.
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 Ndipo Wafilisti wakauliza, “Ni nani aliyetenda jambo hili?” Wakaambiwa, “Ni Samsoni, yule mkwewe Mtimna, kwa sababu alimchukua mkewe akampa mwenzake.” Hivyo Wafilisti wakapanda wakamteketeza kwa moto yeye huyo mwanamke pamoja na baba yake.
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 Samsoni akawaambia, “Kwa kuwa mmetenda hivyo, hakika sitatulia mpaka niwe nimelipiza kisasi juu yenu.”
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 Akawashambulia kwa ukali kwa mapigo makuu na kuwaua watu wengi sana. Kisha akateremka na kukaa katika ufa kwenye mwamba wa Etamu.
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 Wafilisti wakapanda na kupiga kambi huko Yuda na kuenea huko 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 Watu wa Yuda wakawauliza, “Kwa nini mmekuja kupigana nasi?” Wakawajibu, “Tumekuja ili kumkamata Samsoni na kumtenda kama alivyotutendea.”
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 Ndipo watu 3,000 toka Yuda walipoteremka na kwenda kwenye ufa wa mwamba huko Etamu, na kumwambia Samsoni, “Je, hujatambua kuwa Wafilisti wanatutawala? Ni nini hiki ulichotutendea?” Akawajibu, “Mimi nimewatendea tu kile walichonitendea.”
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 Wakamwambia, “Tumekuja kukufunga na kukutia mikononi mwa Wafilisti.” Samsoni akawaambia, “Niapieni kuwa hamtaniua ninyi wenyewe.”
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 Wakamjibu, “Sisi hatutakuua, bali tutakufunga tu na kukutia mikononi mwao.” Basi wakamfunga kwa kamba mbili mpya. Wakamchukua toka huko kwenye ufa katika mwamba.
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 Alipokaribia Lehi, Wafilisti wakamjia wakipiga kelele. Roho wa Bwana akamjia juu yake kwa nguvu. Kamba zilizomfunga mikono yake zikawa kama kitani iliyochomwa kwa moto, na vifungo vyake vikaanguka chini toka mikononi mwake.
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 Ndipo akaona mfupa mpya wa taya la punda, akanyoosha mkono, akauchukua na kuua nao Wafilisti wapatao 1,000.
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 Ndipo Samsoni akasema, “Kwa taya la punda malundo juu ya malundo. Kwa taya la punda nimeua watu 1,000.”
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 Alipomaliza kusema, akautupa ule mfupa wa taya; na mahali pale pakaitwa Ramath-Lehi.
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 Kwa kuwa alikuwa amesikia kiu sana, akamlilia Bwana akisema, “Umempa mtumishi wako ushindi huu mkuu. Je, sasa nife kwa kiu na kuangukia mikononi mwa hawa watu wasiotahiriwa?”
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 Bwana akafunua shimo huko Lehi, pakatoka maji. Samsoni alipoyanywa, nguvu zikamrudia na kuhuika. Hivyo chemchemi ile ikaitwa En-Hakore, nayo iko mpaka leo huko Lehi.
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 Samsoni akawa mwamuzi wa Waisraeli katika siku za Wafilisti kwa muda wa miaka ishirini.
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, for twenty years.
