Iudicum 15

VULGATA	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Post aliquantulum autem temporis, cum dies triticeæ messis instarent, venit Samson, invisere volens uxorem suam, et attulit ei hædum de capris. Cumque cubiculum ejus solito vellet intrare, prohibuit eum pater illius, dicens :	1 After some time, in the season of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife, bringing a kid. But when he said, "Let me be with my wife in private," her father would not let him enter,
2 Putavi quod odisses eam, et ideo tradidi illam amico tuo : sed habet sororem, quæ junior et pulchrior illa est : sit tibi pro ea uxor.	2 saying, "I thought it certain you wished to repudiate her; so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more beautiful than she; you may have her instead."
3 Cui Samson respondit : Ab hac die non erit culpa in me contra Philisthæos : faciam enim vobis mala.	3 Samson said to them, "This time the Philistines cannot blame me if I harm them."
4 Perrexitque et cepit trecentas vulpes, caudasque earum junxit ad caudas, et faces ligavit in medio :	4 So Samson left and caught three hundred foxes. Turning them tail to tail, he tied between each pair of tails one of the torches he had at hand.
5 quas igne succendens, dimisit ut huc illucque discurrerent. Quæ statim perrexerunt in segetes Philisthinorum. Quibus succensis, et comportatæ jam fruges, et adhuc stantes in stipula, concrematæ sunt, in tantum ut vineas quoque et oliveta flamma consumeret.	5 He then kindled the torches and set the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning both the shocks and the standing grain, and the vineyards and olive orchards as well.
6 Dixeruntque Philisthiim : Quis fecit hanc rem ? Quibus dictum est : Samson gener Thamnathæi : quia tulit uxorem ejus, et alteri tradidit, hæc operatus est. Ascenderuntque Philisthiim, et combusserunt tam mulierem quam patrem ejus.	6 When the Philistines asked who had done this, they were told, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because his wife was taken and given to his best man." So the Philistines went up and destroyed her and her family by fire.
7 Quibus ait Samson : Licet hæc feceritis, tamen adhuc ex vobis expetam ultionem, et tunc quiescam.	7 Samson said to them, "If this is how you act, I will not stop until I have taken revenge on you."
8 Percussitque eos ingenti plaga, ita ut stupentes suram femori imponerent. Et descendens habitavit in spelunca petræ Etam.	8 And with repeated blows, he inflicted a great slaughter on them. Then he went down and remained in a cavern of the cliff of Etam.
9 Igitur ascendentes Philisthiim in terram Juda, castrametati sunt in loco, qui postea vocatus est Lechi, id est, Maxilla, ubi eorum effusus est exercitus.	9 The Philistines went up and, from a camp in Judah, deployed against Lehi.
10 Dixeruntque ad eos de tribu Juda : Cur ascendistis adversum nos ? Qui responderunt : Ut ligemus Samson venimus, et reddamus ei quæ in nos operatus est.	10 When the men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?" they answered, "To take Samson prisoner; to do to him as he has done to us."
11 Descenderunt ergo tria millia virorum de Juda ad specum silicis Etam, dixeruntque ad Samson : Nescis quod Philisthiim imperent nobis ? quare hoc facere voluisti ? Quibus ille ait : Sicut fecerunt mihi, sic feci eis.	11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cavern in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are our rulers? Why, then, have you done this to us?" He answered them, "As they have done to me, so have I done to them."
12 Ligare, inquiunt, te venimus, et tradere in manus Philisthinorum. Quibus Samson : Jurate, ait, et spondete mihi quod non occidatis me.	12 They said to him, "We have come to take you prisoner, to deliver you over to the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves."
13 Dixerunt : Non te occidemus, sed vinctum trademus. Ligaveruntque eum duobus novis funibus, et tulerunt eum de petra Etam.	13 "No," they replied,"we will certainly not kill you but will only bind you and deliver you over to them." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the cliff.
14 Qui cum venisset ad locum Maxillæ, et Philisthiim vociferantes occurrissent ei, irruit spiritus Domini in eum : et sicut solent ad odorem ignis lina consumi, ita vincula, quibus ligatus erat, dissipata sunt et soluta.	14 When he reached Lehi, and the Philistines came shouting to meet him, the spirit of the LORD came upon him: the ropes around his arms became as flax that is consumed by fire and his bonds melted away from his hands.
15 Inventamque maxillam, id est, mandibulam asini, quæ jacebat, arripiens interfecit in ea mille viros,	15 Near him was the fresh jawbone of an ass; he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men.
16 et ait : In maxilla asini, in mandibula pulli asinarum, delevi eos, et percussi mille viros.	16 Then Samson said,
17 Cumque hæc verba canens complesset, projecit mandibulam de manu, et vocavit nomen loci illius Ramathlechi, quod interpretatur, Elevatio maxillæ.	17 As he finished speaking he threw the jawbone from him; and so that place was named Ramath-lehi.
18 Sitiensque valde, clamavit ad Dominum, et ait : Tu dedisti in manu servi tui salutem hanc maximam atque victoriam : en siti morior, incidamque in manus incircumcisorum.	18 Being very thirsty, he cried to the LORD and said, "You have granted this great victory by the hand of your servant. Must I now die of thirst or fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"
19 Aperuit itaque Dominus molarem dentem in maxilla asini, et egressæ sunt ex eo aquæ. Quibus haustis, refocillavit spiritum, et vires recepit. Idcirco appellatum est nomen loci illius, Fons invocantis de maxilla, usque in præsentem diem.	19 Then God split the cavity in Lehi, and water issued from it, which Samson drank till his spirit returned and he revived. Hence that spring in Lehi is called En-hakkore to this day.
20 Judicavitque Israël in diebus Philisthiim viginti annis.	20 Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.