Samson Gets Even With the Philistines
1Later on, Samson went to visit his wife. He took a young goat with him. He went at the time the wheat was being gathered. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father wouldn’t let him go in.
2Her father said, “I was sure you hated her. So I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful? Take her instead.”
3Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines. I’m going to hurt them badly.” 4So he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied them in pairs by their tails. Then he tied a torch to each pair of tails. 5He lit the torches. He let the foxes loose in the fields of grain that belonged to the Philistines. He burned up the grain that had been cut and stacked. He burned up the grain that was still growing. He also burned up the vineyards and olive trees.
6The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson did. He’s the son-in-law of the man from Timnah. Samson did it because his wife was given to his companion.”
So the Philistines went up and burned the woman and her father to death. 7Samson said to the Philistines, “Is that how you act? Then I promise I won’t stop until I pay you back.” 8He struck them down with heavy blows. He killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave. It was in the rock of Etam.
9The Philistines went up and camped in Judah. They spread out near Lehi. 10The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight against us?”
“We’ve come to take Samson as our prisoner,” they answered. “We want to do to him what he did to us.”
11Then 3,000 men from Judah went to get Samson. They went down to the cave in the rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you realize the Philistines are ruling over us? What have you done to us?”
Samson answered, “I only did to them what they did to me.”
12The men of Judah said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up. We’re going to hand you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said, “Promise me you won’t kill me yourselves.”
13“We agree,” they answered. “We’ll only tie you up and hand you over to them. We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes. They led him up from the rock. 14Samson approached Lehi. The Philistines came toward him shouting. Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on Samson. The ropes on his arms became like burned thread. They dropped off his hands. 15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down 1,000 men.
16Then Samson said,
“By using a donkey’s jawbone
I’ve made them look like donkeys.
By using a donkey’s jawbone
I’ve struck down 1,000 men.”
17Samson finished speaking. Then he threw the jawbone away. That’s why the place was called Ramath Lehi.
18Samson was very thirsty. So he cried out to the Lord. He said, “You have helped me win this great battle. Do I have to die of thirst now? Must I fall into the power of people who haven’t even been circumcised? They aren’t your people.” 19Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi. Water came out of it. When Samson drank the water, his strength returned. He felt as good as new. So the spring was called En Hakkore. It’s still there in Lehi.
20Samson led Israel for 20 years. In those days the Philistines were in the land.
ሳምሶን ፍልስጥኤማውያንን ተበቀለ
1ከጥቂት ጊዜ በኋላ በስንዴ መከር ወራት ሳምሶን አንድ የፍየል ጠቦት ይዞ ሚስቱን ለማየት ሄደ፤ እርሱም፣ “ሚስቴ ወዳለችበት ጫጕላው ቤት ልግባ” አለ፤ አባቷ ግን እንዲገባ አልፈቀደለትም።
2አባትየውም፣ “ፈጽሞ የጠላሃት መሆንህን ስለ ተረዳሁ ለሚዜህ ድሬለታለሁ፤ ታናሽ እኅቷ ከእርሷ ይልቅ ውብ አይደለችምን? እርሷን አግባት” አለው።
3ሳምሶንም መልሶ፣ “ከእንግዲህ በፍልስጥኤማውያን ላይ በሚደርሰው ጕዳት ተጠያቂ አልሆንም” አላቸው። 4ከዚያም ወጥቶ በመሄድ ሦስት መቶ ቀበሮች ያዘ፤ የሁለት ሁለቱን ጭራ አንድ ላይ ካሰረ በኋላ ችቦ ወስዶ ጥንድ ሆኖ ከተያያዘው ጭራ ጋር አሰረው። 5ችቦውን በእሳት አቀጣጥሎ ቀበሮቹን በፍልስጥኤማውያን የእህል አዝመራ ላይ ለቀቃቸው፤ ነዶውንና የቆመውን አዝመራ እንዲሁም የወይኑንና የወይራውን ተክል አቃጠለ።
6ፍልስጥኤማውያን፣ “ይህን ያደረገው ማን ነው?” ብለው ሲጠይቁ፣ “ሚስቱ ለሚዜው ስለ ተሰጠችበት የተምናዊው ዐማች ሳምሶን ነው” የሚል መልስ አገኙ።
ስለዚህም ፍልስጥኤማውያን ወጥተው ሴቲቱንና አባቷን በእሳት አቃጥለው ገደሏቸው። 7ሳምሶንም፣ “እንግዲህ እናንተ ይህን ካደረጋችሁ እኔ ደግሞ ሳልበቀላችሁ አልመለስም” አለ። 8ክፉኛ መታቸው፤ ከነርሱም ብዙዎችን ገደለ፤ ከዚያም ወርዶ በኢታም ዐለት ዋሻ ተቀመጠ።
9ፍልስጥኤማውያን ወጥተው በይሁዳ ሰፈሩ፤ ከዚያም በሌሒ አጠገብ ተበታትነው አደፈጡ። 10የይሁዳም ሰዎች፣ “ልትወጉን የመጣችሁት ለምንድን ነው?” ሲሉ ጠየቋቸው።
እነርሱም “እኛ የመጣነው ሳምሶንን ልናስርና ያደረገብንን ልናደርግበት ነው” ብለው መለሱላቸው።
11ከዚያም ሦስት ሺሕ ሰዎች ከይሁዳ ተነሥተው በኤታም ዐለት ወዳለው ዋሻ ወርደው ሳምሶንን፣ “ፍልስጥኤማውያን ገዦቻችን መሆናቸውን አታውቅምን? ያደረግህብንስ ነገር ምንድን ነው?” ብለው ጠየቁት።
ሳምሶንም፣ “ያደረግሁት እነርሱ ያደረጉብኝን ነው” በማለት መለሰላቸው።
12እነርሱም፣ “አስረን ለፍልስጥኤማውያን ልንሰጥህ ይኸው መጥተናል” አሉት።
ሳምሶንም፣ “እናንተ ራሳችሁ ላትገድሉኝ ማሉልኝ” አላቸው።
13እነርሱም፣ “አስረን ብቻ ለእነርሱ አሳልፈን እንሰጥሃለን እንጂ ራሳችን አንገድልህም” አሉት፤ ከዚያ በሁለት አዳዲስ ገመድ አስረው ከዐለቱ ዋሻ አወጡት። 14ሳምሶን ሌሒ እንደ ደረሰም ፍልስጥኤማውያን እየጮኹ ወደ እርሱ መጡ፤ በዚህ ጊዜ የእግዚአብሔር መንፈስ በሳምሶን ላይ በኀይል ወረደበት። እጆቹ የታሰሩበትም ገመድ እሳት ውስጥ እንደ ገባ የተልባ እግር ፈትል ሆኖ ከእጆቹ ላይ ወደቀ። 15ከዚያም በቅርቡ የሞተ የአንድ የአህያ መንጋጋ አይቶ ከመሬት አነሣ፤ በዚያም አንድ ሺሕ ሰው ገደለ።
16ሳምሶንም፣
“በአንድ የአህያ መንጋጋ፣
ሺሕ ሰው ዘራሪ፤
በአንድ የአህያ መንጋጋ፣
ሺሕ ሬሳ አነባባሪ15፥16 በዕብራይስጡ አህያ የሚለው ቃል ፍም ከመረ ወይም አነባበረ ከሚለው ጋር ተመሳሳይ ነው።”
ብሎ ፎከረ። 17ይህን ተናግሮ እንዳበቃ የአህያውን መንጋጋ ከእጁ ወዲያ ወረወረው፤ የዚያም ቦታ ስም ራማት ሌሒ15፥17 ራማት ሌሒ ማለት የመንጋጋ ኰረብታ ክምር ማለት ነው። ተብሎ ተጠራ።
18እጅግ ተጠምቶ ስለ ነበር፤ “እነሆ፤ ለአገልጋይህ ይህን ታላቅ ድል አጐናጽፈሃል፤ ታዲያ አሁን በውሃ ጥም ልሙት? እንዴትስ በእነዚህ ባልተገረዙ ፍልስጥኤማውያን እጅ ልውደቅ?” በማለት ወደ እግዚአብሔር ጮኸ። 19እግዚአብሔርም በሌሒ ዐለት ሰነጠቀለት፤ ከዚያም ውሃ ወጣ፤ ሳምሶንም ያን ሲጠጣ በረታ፤ መንፈሱም ታደሰ። ስለዚህ ያ ምንጭ ዓይንሀቆሬ15፥19 ዓይንሀቆሬ ማለት የጠሪዎች ምንጭ ማለት ነው ተባለ፤ እስከ ዛሬም ድረስ በዚያው በሌሒ ይገኛል።
20ሳምሶንም በፍልስጥኤማውያን ዘመን በእስራኤል ላይ ለሃያ ዓመት ፈራጅ15፥20 በትውፊት መሳፍንት ይባላል። ሆነ።
