Atemmufoɔ 15
1 Akyire yi, ayuotwaberɛ mu no, Samson faa abirekyie ba sɛ ɔde rekɔkyɛ ne yere. Ɔpɛɛ sɛ anka ɔkɔda ne nkyɛn nanso, ɔbaa no agya amma no mu ɛkwan.
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 Ɔbaa no agya no kaa sɛ, “Medwenee sɛ na wotan no, ɛno enti, mede no ama ɔbarima a na ɔdi wʼanan ase wɔ mo ayeforɔhyia mu no. Nanso, hwɛ ne nuabaa ho yɛ fɛ sen no. Ware no si anan.”
“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 Samson kaa sɛ, “Saa ɛberɛ yi, obiara rentumi mmɔ me soboɔ wɔ biribiara a merebɛyɛ mo Filistifoɔ ho.”
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 Afei ɔfiri hɔ kɔeɛ, kɔkyeree asakraman ahasa. Ɔkyekyeree sakraman mmienu mmienu dua bɔɔ ho. Mmienu biara nso, ɔkyekyeree ogyatɛn fam ho.
And he went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he joined them tail to tail. And he tied torches between the tails.
5 Ɔsɔɔ ogyatɛn no na ɔmaa asakraman no tuu mmirika faa Filistifoɔ mfuo mu. Ɔhyee wɔn ayuo nyinaa pasaa; deɛ wɔahyehyɛ no apa so ne deɛ wɔnntwaeɛ nyinaa. Ɔsɛee wɔn bobefuo ne ngo nnua nyinaa.
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 Filistifoɔ no bisaa sɛ, “Na hwan na ɔyɛɛ saa amumuyɛ yi?” Wɔn ara buaa sɛ, “Ɛyɛ Samson ɛfiri sɛ, nʼase barima a ɔfiri Timna de Samson yere ama ɔbarima a na ɔdi ne nan ase wɔ wɔn ayeforɔhyia mu no awadeɛ.” Enti, Filistifoɔ kɔkyeree ɔbaa no ne nʼagya hyee wɔn ma wɔwuiɛ.
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 Samson suaee sɛ, “Esiane deɛ moayɛ yi enti, mɛtua mo so ka na merennyae ara da kɔsi sɛ me bo bɛtɔ me yam!”
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 Enti, ɔde abufuo kɔto hyɛɛ Filistifoɔ no so kunkumm wɔn mu bebree. Afei, ɔkɔtenaa ɔbodan bi a ɛwɔ ɔbotan bi mu wɔ 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 Filistifoɔ no nso kyeree sraban wɔ Yuda sɛee Lehi kuro no de tuaa ne so ka.
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 Yuda mmarima bisaa Filistifoɔ no sɛ, “Adɛn enti na moto hyɛ yɛn so saa?” Filistifoɔ no buaa sɛ, “Yɛaba sɛ yɛrebɛkyere Samson. Deɛ ɔyɛɛ yɛn no, yɛrebɛtua no so ka.”
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 Enti, Yudafoɔ mpensa kɔɔ ɔbodan a ɛwɔ ɔbotan mu wɔ Etam no sɛ wɔrekɔkyere Samson. Wɔka kyerɛɛ Samson sɛ, “Wonnim sɛ Filistifoɔ na wɔdi yɛn so? Ɛdeɛn na woreyɛ yɛn yi?” Nanso, Samson buaa wɔn sɛ, “Deɛ wɔyɛɛ me no na metuaa wɔn so ka.”
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 Nanso, Yuda mmarima ka kyerɛɛ no sɛ, “Yɛaba sɛ yɛrebɛkyekyere wo na yɛde wo akɔma Filistifoɔ.” Samson kaa sɛ, “Ɛyɛ, nanso, monhyɛ me bɔ sɛ mo ankasa deɛ, morenkum me.”
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 Wɔbuaa sɛ, “Yɛbɛkyekyere wo de wo akɔma Filistifoɔ. Yɛrenkum wo.” Enti, wɔde ahoma foforɔ mmienu guu ne so kyekyeree no pampee, twee no firii ɔbotan no mu.
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 Samson duruu Lehi no, Filistifoɔ no bɔɔ ose. Na Awurade Honhom tumi mu ahoɔden baa Samson so. Ɔtetee nhoma a ɛgu ne nsa so no mu te sɛ nhoma nketewa bi a ogya aka, maa ne nyinaa tete firii nʼabakɔn guu fam.
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 Afei, ɔmaa afunumu apantan bi a na ɛda fam so de kunkumm Filistifoɔ apem.
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 Na Samson kaa sɛ, “Mede afunumu apantan, Ahɔre wɔn sɛ esie! Mede afunumu apantan, akunkum mmarima apem!”
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 Na ɔwiee kasa no, ɔtoo apantan no tweneeɛ. Na wɔtoo beaeɛ hɔ edin Ramat-Lehi a aseɛ ne Apantan bepɔ.
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 Ɛbaa sɛ osukɔm dee Samson yie enti ɔsu frɛɛ Awurade sɛ, “Wonam wʼakoa ahoɔden so adi saa nkonim kɛseɛ yi. Na enti osukɔm nku me, na mentɔ wɔ saa abosonsomfoɔ yi nsam?”
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 Enti, Awurade maa nsuo pue firii tokuro bi mu wɔ Lehi asase so baabi. Na Samson nom bi no, ne ho sanee no. Na ɔtoo hɔ din sɛ En-Hakore, na ɛda so wɔ Lehi de bɛsi ɛnnɛ.
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 Samson yɛɛ Israel so ɔtemmufoɔ mfeɛ aduonu ɛberɛ a na Filistifoɔ di Israel asase so no.
And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, for twenty years.
