1. Quelque temps après, à l'époque de la moisson des blés, Samson alla voir sa femme, et lui porta un chevreau. Il dit: Je veux entrer vers ma femme dans sa chambre. Mais le père de sa femme ne lui permit pas d'entrer.
2. J'ai pensé dit-il, que tu avais pour elle de la haine, et je l'ai donnée à ton compagnon. Est-ce que sa jeune soeur n'est pas plus belle qu'elle? Prends-la donc à sa place.
3. Samson leur dit: Cette fois je ne serai pas coupable envers les Philistins, si je leur fais du mal.
4. Samson s'en alla. Il attrapa trois cents renards, et prit des flambeaux; puis il tourna queue contre queue, et mit un flambeau entre deux queues, au milieu.
5. Il alluma les flambeaux, lâcha les renards dans les blés des Philistins, et embrasa les tas de gerbes, le blé sur pied, et jusqu'aux plantations d'oliviers.
6. Les Philistins dirent: Qui a fait cela? On répondit: Samson, le gendre du Thimnien, parce que celui-ci lui a pris sa femme et l'a donnée à son compagnon. Et les Philistins montèrent, et ils la brûlèrent, elle et son père.
7. Samson leur dit: Est-ce ainsi que vous agissez? Je ne cesserai qu'après m'être vengé de vous.
8. Il les battit rudement, dos et ventre; puis il descendit, et se retira dans la caverne du rocher d'Etam.
9. Alors les Philistins se mirent en marche, campèrent en Juda, et s'étendirent jusqu'à Léchi.
10. Les hommes de Juda dirent: Pourquoi êtes-vous montés contre nous? Ils répondirent: Nous sommes montés pour lier Samson, afin de le traiter comme il nous a traités.
11. Sur quoi trois mille hommes de Juda descendirent à la caverne du rocher d'Etam, et dirent à Samson: Ne sais-tu pas que les Philistins dominent sur nous? Que nous as-tu donc fait? Il leur répondit: Je les ai traités comme ils m'ont traité.
12. Ils lui dirent: Nous sommes descendus pour te lier, afin de te livrer entre les mains des Philistins. Samson leur dit: Jurez-moi que vous ne me tuerez pas.
13. Ils lui répondirent: Non; nous voulons seulement te lier et te livrer entre leurs mains, mais nous ne te ferons pas mourir. Et ils le lièrent avec deux cordes neuves, et le firent sortir du rocher.
14. Lorsqu'il arriva à Léchi, les Philistins poussèrent des cris à sa rencontre. Alors l'esprit de l'Eternel le saisit. Les cordes qu'il avait aux bras devinrent comme du lin brûlé par le feu, et ses liens tombèrent de ses mains.
15. Il trouva une mâchoire d'âne fraîche, il étendit sa main pour la prendre, et il en tua mille hommes.
16. Et Samson dit: Avec une mâchoire d'âne, un monceau, deux monceaux; Avec une mâchoire d'âne, j'ai tué mille hommes.
17. Quand il eut achevé de parler, il jeta de sa main la mâchoire. Et l'on appela ce lieu Ramath-Léchi.
18. Pressé par la soif, il invoqua l'Eternel, et dit: C'est toi qui as permis par la main de ton serviteur cette grande délivrance; et maintenant mourrais je de soif, et tomberais-je entre les mains des incirconcis?
19. Dieu fendit la cavité du rocher qui est à Léchi, et il en sortit de l'eau. Samson but, son esprit se ranima, et il reprit vie. C'est de là qu'on a appelé cette source En-Hakkoré; elle existe encore aujourd'hui à Léchi.
20. Samson fut juge en Israël, au temps des Philistins, pendant vingt ans.
1. Now a short time after, at the time of the grain-cutting, Samson, taking with him a young goat, went to see his wife; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the bride's room. But her father would not let him go in.
2. And her father said, It seemed to me that you had only hate for her; so I gave her to your friend: but is not her younger sister fairer than she? so please take her in place of the other.
3. Then Samson said to them, This time I will give payment in full to the Philistines, for I am going to do them great evil.
4. So Samson went and got three hundred foxes and some sticks of fire-wood; and he put the foxes tail to tail with a stick between every two tails;
5. Then firing the sticks, he let the foxes loose among the uncut grain of the Philistines, and all the corded stems as well as the living grain and the vine-gardens and the olives went up in flames.
6. Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his friend. So the Philistines came up and had her and her father's house burned.
7. And Samson said to them, If you go on like this, truly I will take my full payment from you; and that will be the end of it.
8. And he made an attack on them, driving them in uncontrolled flight, and causing great destruction; then he went away to his safe place in the crack of the rock at Etam.
9. Then the Philistines went and put up their tents in Judah, all round Lehi.
10. And the men of Judah said, Why have you come up against us? And they said, We have come up to take Samson, and to do to him as he has done to us.
11. Then three thousand of the men of Judah went down to the crack of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Is it not clear to you that the Philistines are our rulers? What is this you have done to us? And he said to them, I only did to them as they did to me.
12. Then they said to him, We have come down to take you and give you up into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Give me your oath that you will not make an attack on me yourselves.
13. And they said, No; we will take you and give you up into their hands, but truly we will not put you to death. So knotting two new cords round him they took him up from the rock.
14. And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines came out, meeting him with loud cries; then the spirit of the Lord came rushing on him, and the cords on his arms became like grass which has been burned with fire, and the bands came falling off his hands.
15. And taking up the mouth-bone of an ass newly dead, which he saw by chance on the earth, he put to death a thousand men with it.
16. And Samson said, With a red ass's mouth-bone I have made them red with blood, with a red ass's mouth-bone I have sent destruction on a thousand men.
17. And having said these words, he let the mouth-bone go out of his hand; so that place was named Ramath-lehi.
18. After this, he was in great need of water, and crying out to the Lord, he said, You have given this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and now need of water will be my death; and I will be given into the hands of this people who are without circumcision.
19. Then God made a crack in the hollow rock in Lehi and water came out of it; and after drinking, his spirit came back to him and he was strong again; so that place was named En-hakkore; it is in Lehi to this day.
20. And he was judge of Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.
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