1 Kwakati shule mu tjibaka tje kuvun'gwa kwe koroni, Samisoni kanokumba nkadzi uwe ngono kansengela tjibudzana. Ngono kati, “Ndongina mu ng'umbana ye nkadzi wangu.” Koga tate babe bakanlambila ku ngina mukati. 2 Tate babe bakati, “Ndakakumbula kuti unonshima dumbu, ndizo ndikampa nzwalani uwo. Nnunguna uwe unompinda nge naka, ndokumbila utole iye mu bumo gugwe.” 3 Samisoni kabadwa kati, “Ngwenu ndowobendisi nlandu ngekwe Bafilisitiya apa ndibakubadza.” 4 Ndizo Samisoni kanobhata bophungubgwe zwili mazana matatu (300) kazwisungilikanya nge mimwise bubili ne bubili, katola zwinovoneka kazwisungila mu bubili gose. 5 Ngono kati abhatidza moto muna zwinovoneka kaletja bophungubgwe zwiyenda ku minda dze Bafilisitiya zwikapisa mathunde kose ne minda dze mizhambi nedze mitoba.
6 Kwakati Bafilisitiya bebhuzwa beti, “Ndiyani wathama ikoko?” Bakabudziwa kuyi, “Ndi Samisoni, nkwasha we nlume we Timina, ngoti batola nkadzi uwe bempa nzwalani uwe.” Ngono Bafilisitiya bakazha bepisa nkadzi na tate babe nge moto. 7 Samisoni kabadwa kati, “Apa kuli itjo tjamunothama, ndotuna kuti andingamuletje kuswikila nda mubgwilizila.” 8 Kabanginilila kwakabangalala kabulaya banji. Ipapo kayenda kanogala mu guwu mu shongwe ye Etami.
Samisoni unokunda Bafilisitiya
9 Bafilisitiya bakayenda bakakotokela ku Juda, betalabukila ku Lehi. 10 Ngono balume be Juda bakabhuzwa beti, “Ini wazha kuwotigwisa kene?” Bakashandula beti, “Tazhila kuwosunga Samisoni, kunthama tjaakatithama.” 11 Balume bali zwiwulu zwili zwitatu (3 000) bakayenda ku shongwe ye Etami bakadwa Samisoni bakati, “Autoziba kuti Bafilisitiya banotibusa kene? Watithamilani kene?” Kadabila eti, “Ndabathamila tjabakandithama.” 12 Bakandwa bakati, “Tazha towokusunga kuti tinokulonga mu maboko e Bafilisitiya.” Samisoni kabadwa kati, “Tunani kundili kuti amungandibulaye nebukwenyu.” 13 Bakan'dabila beti, “Aa, towokusunga koga tikokulonga mu maboko abo, atingakubulaye.” Ndizo bakansunga nge misungo mibili mitshwa bakandusa mu shongwe.
14 Wakati eswika ku Lehi, Bafilisitiya bakanshanganidza be mimila, Meya ya Yahwe ikazha munli nge simba, ngono misungo yakabe ili mu maboko awe ikanga thali dzapisiwa nge moto, misungo ikaletja mu maboko awe. 15 Kawana shaya dze donki dzitjazwihwa, kadzitola kabulaya balume bali tjiwulu (1 000) nadzo. 16 Samisoni kati,
“Ne shaya dze donki
ndakabathama matuluthulu,
Ne shaya dze donki
Ndakabulaya balume bali zwiwulu.”
17 Wakati apedza lebeleka, kalasha shaya dze donki, ngono pathu ipapo kuka dang'wa Ramatilehi.
18 Ngobe wakabe ana nyota kwazo, kalilila kuna Yahwe kati, “Mapa nlanda wenyu kukunda kukulu. Ngwenu ndingafa ne nyota kene, ndiwila mu maboko e bathu basakathumbigwa?” 19 Ngono Ndzimu bakapubula gomba lakabe lili ku Lehi kukabhuda vula. Kati e ng'wa kabuyigwa nge simba lile katjila. Ndizo nsenya ukadang'wa kuyi Enehakori, na nasi uyapo ku Lehi. 20 Samisoni katungamila Baiziraela kwe makole ali makumi mabili (20) mu mazhuba e Bafilisitiya.
1 Later, during the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit the young woman he thought was still his wife. He brought along a young goat as a gift and said to her father, “I want to go into my wife's bedroom.”
“You can't do that,” he replied. 2 “When you left the way you did, I thought you were divorcing her. So I arranged for her to marry one of the young men who were at your party. But my younger daughter is even prettier, and you can have her as your wife.”
3 “This time,” Samson answered, “I have a good reason for really hurting some Philistines.”
Samson Takes Revenge
4 Samson went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them together in pairs with oil-soaked rags around their tails. 5 Then Samson took the foxes into the Philistine wheat fields that were ready to be harvested. He set the rags on fire and let the foxes go. The wheat fields went up in flames, and so did the stacks of wheat that had already been cut. Even the Philistine vineyards and olive orchards burned.
6 Some of the Philistines started asking around, “Who could have done such a thing?”
“It was Samson,” someone told them. “He married the daughter of that man in Timnah, but then the man gave Samson's wife to one of the men at the wedding.”
The Philistine leaders went to Timnah and burned to death Samson's wife and her father.
7 When Samson found out what they had done, he went to them and said, “You killed them! And I won't rest until I get even with you.” 8 Then Samson started hacking them to pieces with his sword.
Samson left Philistia and went to live in the cave at Etam Rock. 9 But it wasn't long before the Philistines invaded Judah and set up a huge army camp at Jawbone.
10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you invaded our land?”
The Philistines answered, “We've come to get Samson. We're going to do the same things to him that he did to our people.”
11 Three thousand men from Judah went to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, “Don't you know that the Philistines rule us, and they will punish us for what you did?”
“I was only getting even with them,” Samson replied. “They did the same things to me first.”
12 “We came here to tie you up and turn you over to them,” said the men of Judah.
“I won't put up a fight,” Samson answered, “but you have to promise not to hurt me yourselves.”
13-14 “We promise,” the men said. “We will only tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines. We won't kill you.” Then they tied up his hands and arms with two brand-new ropes and led him away from Etam Rock.
When the Philistines saw that Samson was being brought to their camp at Jawbone, they started shouting and ran toward him. But the Lord's Spirit took control of Samson, and Samson broke the ropes, as though they were pieces of burnt cloth. 15 Samson glanced around and spotted the jawbone of a donkey. The jawbone had not yet dried out, so it was still hard and heavy. Samson grabbed it and started hitting Philistines—he killed 1,000 of them! 16 After the fighting was over, he made up this poem about what he had done to the Philistines:
I used a donkey's jawbone
to kill a thousand men;
I beat them with this jawbone
over and over again.
17 Samson tossed the jawbone on the ground and decided to call the place Jawbone Hill. It is still called that today.
18 Samson was so thirsty that he prayed, “Our Lord, you helped me win a battle against a whole army. Please don't let me die of thirst now. Those heathen Philistines will carry off my dead body.”
19 Samson was tired and weary, but God sent water gushing from a rock. Samson drank some and felt strong again.
Samson named the place Caller Spring, because he had called out to God for help. The spring is still there at Jawbone.
20 Samson was a leader of Israel for 20 years, but the Philistines were still the rulers of Israel.