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.
Some time later when the wheat was being harvested, Samson went to pay his wife a visit, taking with him a young goat as a present. “I want to go to my wife in her bedroom,” he said when he arrived, but her father would not let him go in.
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 you must totally hate her, so I gave her to your best man,” he told Samson. “But her younger sister is even more attractive—why don't you marry her instead?”
3 Samson kaa sɛ, “Saa ɛberɛ yi, obiara rentumi mmɔ me soboɔ wɔ biribiara a merebɛyɛ mo Filistifoɔ ho.”
“This time I can't be blamed for the trouble I'm going to cause the Philistines,” Samson declared.
4 Afei ɔfiri hɔ kɔeɛ, kɔkyeree asakraman ahasa. Ɔkyekyeree sakraman mmienu mmienu dua bɔɔ ho. Mmienu biara nso, ɔkyekyeree ogyatɛn fam ho.
He went and caught three hundred foxes and tied their tails together, two by two.
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.
He attached a torch to each of the tied tails and set them on fire. Then he let them loose in the grain fields of the Philistines, setting fire to all the grain, harvested and unharvested, as well as the vineyards and 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.
“Who did this?” the Philistines asked. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah,” they were told. “That man gave Samson's wife to Samson's best man.” So the Philistines went and burned her and her father to death.
7 Samson suaee sɛ, “Esiane deɛ moayɛ yi enti, mɛtua mo so ka na merennyae ara da kɔsi sɛ me bo bɛtɔ me yam!”
Samson told them, “If this is the way you're going to act, then I won't stop until I take my revenge on you!”
8 Enti, ɔde abufuo kɔto hyɛɛ Filistifoɔ no so kunkumm wɔn mu bebree. Afei, ɔkɔtenaa ɔbodan bi a ɛwɔ ɔbotan bi mu wɔ Etam.
He attacked them violently, killing them, and then left to go and live in a cave at the rock of Etam.
9 Filistifoɔ no nso kyeree sraban wɔ Yuda sɛee Lehi kuro no de tuaa ne so ka.
So the Philistine army came and camped in Judah, drawn up for battle near Lehi.
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.”
The people of Judah asked, “Why have you invaded us?” “We've come to capture Samson, to do to him what he's done to us!” they replied.
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.”
Three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam and asked Samson, “Don't you understand that the Philistines rule over us? What do you think you're doing to us?” “I only did what they did to me,” he replied.
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.”
“Well, we've come to take you prisoner and hand you over to the Philistines,” they told him. “Just swear to me that you're not going to kill me yourselves,” Samson answered.
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.
“No, we won't,” they assured him. “We'll only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines. We certainly aren't going to kill you!” They tied him using two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
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.
When Samson got close to Lehi, the Philistines ran towards him, shouting at him. But the Spirit of the Lord swept over him, and the ropes tying his arms together became as weak as burnt flax, and his hands broke free.
15 Afei, ɔmaa afunumu apantan bi a na ɛda fam so de kunkumm Filistifoɔ apem.
He grabbed the fresh jawbone of a donkey, using it to kill a thousand Philistines.
16 Na Samson kaa sɛ, “Mede afunumu apantan, Ahɔre wɔn sɛ esie! Mede afunumu apantan, akunkum mmarima apem!”
Then Samson declared, “With a donkey's jawbone I have piled the dead into heaps. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men.”
17 Na ɔwiee kasa no, ɔtoo apantan no tweneeɛ. Na wɔtoo beaeɛ hɔ edin Ramat-Lehi a aseɛ ne Apantan bepɔ.
After Samson had finished his speech, he threw away the jawbone, and he named the place Hill 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?”
He was now extremely thirsty, and he Samson called out to the Lord, saying, “You have achieved this amazing victory through your servant, but now do I have to die of thirst and be captured by the heathen?”
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.
So God split open a rock seam in Lehi, and water came out of it. Samson drank and his strength returned—he felt much better. That's why he named it the Spring of the Caller, and it's still there in Lehi to this very day.
20 Samson yɛɛ Israel so ɔtemmufoɔ mfeɛ aduonu ɛberɛ a na Filistifoɔ di Israel asase so no.
Samson led Israel as judge for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.
