< 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.
And it came to pass, after a time, in the days of wheat-harvest, that Samson went to visit his wife, with a kid, and he said—I will go in unto my wife, in the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
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.”
And her father said—I, thought, that thou didst, hate, her, so I gave her to thy companion, —Is not, her younger sister, fairer than she? Pray let her be thine, in her stead.
3 Samsoni akawaambia, “Wakati huu, nitakapowadhuru Wafilisti, sitakuwa na lawama.”
And Samson said of them, I shall be more blameless, this time, than the Philistines, —though I should do them a mischief.
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,
So Samson went, and caught three hundred jackals, —and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put one torch between the two tails, in the midst.
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, when he had set fire to the torches, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, —and set fire, both to the stack of sheaves and to the standing corn, and besides to the olive plantation.
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.
Then said the Philistines—Who hath done this? And they said—Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion. So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father, with fire.
7 Samsoni akawaambia, “Kwa kuwa mmetenda hivyo, hakika sitatulia mpaka niwe nimelipiza kisasi juu yenu.”
And Samson said to them, Though ye do the like of this, yet will I be avenged upon you, and, afterwards, will I cease.
8 Akawashambulia kwa ukali kwa mapigo makuu na kuwaua watu wengi sana. Kisha akateremka na kukaa katika ufa kwenye mwamba wa Etamu.
So he smote them, leg on thigh, with a great smiting, —and went down and dwelt in a cleft of the crag Etam.
9 Wafilisti wakapanda na kupiga kambi huko Yuda na kuenea huko Lehi.
Then went up the Philistines, and encamped in Judah, —and were spread abroad in Lehi.
10 Watu wa Yuda wakawauliza, “Kwa nini mmekuja kupigana nasi?” Wakawajibu, “Tumekuja ili kumkamata Samsoni na kumtenda kama alivyotutendea.”
And the men of Judah said, Wherefore have ye come up against us? And they said—To bind Samson, are we come up, to do unto him as he hath done unto 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 went down three thousand men out of Judah, unto the cleft of the crag Etam, and said unto Samson—Knowest thou not that the Philistines are lording it over us? What, then, is this thou hast done to us? And he said unto them, As they have done to me, so, have I done to them.
12 Wakamwambia, “Tumekuja kukufunga na kukutia mikononi mwa Wafilisti.” Samsoni akawaambia, “Niapieni kuwa hamtaniua ninyi wenyewe.”
And they said to him—To bind thee, are we come down, to deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me, that ye will not fall upon me, yourselves.
13 Wakamjibu, “Sisi hatutakuua, bali tutakufunga tu na kukutia mikononi mwao.” Basi wakamfunga kwa kamba mbili mpya. Wakamchukua toka huko kwenye ufa katika mwamba.
And they answered him, saying—Nay; but we will, bind, thee, and deliver thee into their hand, but we will not, put thee to death. So they bound him with two new ropes, and took him up from the crag.
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.
He, was coming in as far as Lehi, and, the Philistines, came shouting to meet him, —when the Spirit of Yahweh came suddenly over him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as threads of flax which have been ignited with fire, so that his bonds melted from off his hands.
15 Ndipo akaona mfupa mpya wa taya la punda, akanyoosha mkono, akauchukua na kuua nao Wafilisti wapatao 1,000.
Then found he the jawbone of an ass newly-slain, —so he thrust forth his hand, and took it, and smote therewith, a thousand men.
16 Ndipo Samsoni akasema, “Kwa taya la punda malundo juu ya malundo. Kwa taya la punda nimeua watu 1,000.”
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, —have I piled them up in heaps! With the jawbone of an ass, have I smitten a thousand men!
17 Alipomaliza kusema, akautupa ule mfupa wa taya; na mahali pale pakaitwa Ramath-Lehi.
And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, —and called the name of that place, Ramath-lehi.
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 he was sore athirst, so he cried unto Yahweh, and said, Thou thyself, hast given, into the hand of thy servant, this great salvation, —and, now, must I die of thirst, and fall into the hand 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.
So then God clave open the hollow that is in Lehi, and there came therefrom water, and he drank, and his spirit came back, and he revived, —for this cause, called he the name thereof—Ain-hakkore, which is in Lehi, until this 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, twenty years.