Add parallel Print Page Options

Samsoni Abwezera Afilisti

15 Patapita nthawi, mu nyengo yodula tirigu, Samsoni anatenga kamwana kambuzi ndipo anapita kukacheza kwa mkazi wake. Iye anati, “Ndikufuna kukalowa ku chipinda cha mkazi wanga.” Koma abambo a mkaziyo anamuletsa kutero.

Abambo a mkaziyo anati, “Ine ndimaganiza kuti umamuda kwambiri nʼchifukwa chake ndinamupereka kwa mnzako. Kodi mngʼono wake uja sindiye wokongola kupambana iye? Ingotengani ameneyo mʼmalo mwake.”

Samsoni anawawuza kuti, “Pano sindikhala wochimwa ndikawachita choyipa chachikulu Afilistiwa.” Choncho Samsoni anapita nakagwira nkhandwe 300 nazimangirira michira ziwiriziwiri ndipo pa fundo iliyonse ya michirayo anamangirira nsakali. Anayatsa nsakalizo kenaka ndi kuzitayira nkhandwe zija mʼminda ya tirigu ya Afilisti, ndipo zinatentha milu ya tirigu, ndi wosadula yemwe pamodzi ndi mitengo ya mpesa ndi ya olivi.

Tsono Afilisti anayamba kufunsana kuti, “Ndani wachita izi?” Ena anati, “Ndi Samsoni mkamwini wa munthu wa ku Timna uja chifukwa Mtimunayo anatenga mkazi wake ndi kumupereka kwa mnzake.”

Choncho Afilisti anapita kukatentha mtsikanayo pamodzi ndi abambo ake. Samsoni anawawuza kuti, “Ngati mumachita zangati zimenezi, ndiye ine sindileka mpaka nditakulipsirani.” Choncho Samsoni anamenyana nawo koopsa ndipo anapha ambiri a iwo. Kenaka anakalowa mʼphanga la Etamu, nakhala momwemo.

Pambuyo pake Afilisti anakamanga misasa ya nkhondo mʼdziko la Yuda, ndi kuthira nkhondo mʼdera la Lehi. 10 Anthu a fuko la Yuda anafunsa kuti, “Nʼchifukwa chiyani mwabwera kudzamenyana nafe?”

Iwo anayankha kuti, “Tabwera kudzamanga Samsoni ndi kuti timuchite zofanana ndi zimene anatichita.”

11 Ndipo anthu 3,000 a ku Yuda anapita ku phanga la Etamu, ndi kukamufunsa Samsoni kuti, “Kodi iwe sudziwa kuti ife amatilamulira ndi Afilisti? Tsono ndi chiyani chimene watichitachi?”

Iye anayankha kuti, “Ine ndinachita zomwe iwo anandichita.”

12 Iwo anati kwa iye, “Ife tabwera kuti tikumange ndi kukupereka kwa Afilisti.”

Ndipo Samsoni anati, “Lonjezani mwa lumbiro kuti simundipha ndinu.”

13 Iwo anamuyankha kuti, “Ayi, ife sitikupha. Koma tingokumanga ndi kukupereka mʼmanja mwa Afilisti.” Choncho anamumanga ndi zingwe ziwiri zatsopano namutulutsa mʼphanga muja. 14 Samsoni anafika ku Lehi, ndipo Afilisti anamuchingamira akufuwula. Nthawi yomweyo Mzimu wa Yehova unatsika pa iye mwamphamvu ndipo zingwe zimene anamumanga nazo zinasanduka ngati thonje lopsa mʼmoto, zinachita ngati zasungunuka nʼkuchoka mʼmanja mwake. 15 Anapeza chibwano cha bulu amene anali atangofa kumene. Anachitola ndi kuphera nacho anthu 1,000.

16 Ndipo Samsoni anati,

“Ndi chibwano cha bulu,
    milu ndi milu ya anthu.
Ndi chibwano cha bulu,
    ndapha anthu 1,000.”

17 Atatsiriza kuyankhula, anataya chibwanocho, ndipo malowo anawatcha Ramati-Lehi.

18 Pambuyo pake anamva ludzu kwambiri ndipo anayitana Yehova mopempha kuti, “Inu mwapatsa mtumiki wanu chipulumutso chachikulu chotere. Kodi tsopano ndife ndi ludzu ndi kugwidwa ndi anthu osachita mdulidwewa?” 19 Pamenepo Mulungu anangʼamba nthaka ku Lehi, ndipo madzi anatuluka mʼdzenjemo. Samsoni anamwa madziwo, ndipo mphamvu zake zinabwerera nakhalanso monga analili. Choncho chitsimecho chinatchedwa Eni-Hakore, ndipo chilipobe ku Lehiko mpaka lero.

20 Samsoni anatsogolera Israeli pa nthawi ya Afilisti kwa zaka makumi awiri.

Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines

15 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest,(A) Samson(B) took a young goat(C) and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.”(D) But her father would not let him go in.

“I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion.(E) Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”

Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” So he went out and caught three hundred foxes(F) and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch(G) to every pair of tails, lit the torches(H) and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks(I) and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.(J)

So the Philistines went up and burned her(K) and her father to death.(L) Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock(M) of Etam.(N)

The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.(O) 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”

“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”

11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us?(P) What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Samson said, “Swear to me(Q) that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

13 “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes(R) and led him up from the rock. 14 As he approached Lehi,(S) the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.(T) The ropes on his arms became like charred flax,(U) and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.(V)

16 Then Samson said,

“With a donkey’s jawbone
    I have made donkeys of them.[a](W)
With a donkey’s jawbone
    I have killed a thousand men.”

17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.[b](X)

18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord,(Y) “You have given your servant this great victory.(Z) Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived.(AA) So the spring(AB) was called En Hakkore,[c] and it is still there in Lehi.

20 Samson led[d] Israel for twenty years(AC) in the days of the Philistines.

Footnotes

  1. Judges 15:16 Or made a heap or two; the Hebrew for donkey sounds like the Hebrew for heap.
  2. Judges 15:17 Ramath Lehi means jawbone hill.
  3. Judges 15:19 En Hakkore means caller’s spring.
  4. Judges 15:20 Traditionally judged