And a while after, when the days of the wheat harvest were at hand, Samson came, meaning to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid of the flock. And when he would have gone into her chamber as usual, her father would not suffer him, saying:

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:

Some time had passed, and they were cutting the wheat already, when Samson went to visit his wife, bringing a kid from his herd as a present to her. But now her father would not let him pass into her inner room, as his wont had been;

I thought thou hadst hated her, and therefore I gave her to thy friend: but she hath a sister, who is younger and fairer than she, take her to wife instead of her.

Putavi quod odisses eam, et ideo tradidi illam amico tuo: sed habet sororem, quæ junior et pulchrior illa est: sit tibi pro ea uxor.

Why, he said, I thought past all doubt thou hadst grown weary of her, so I gave her in marriage to one of thy friends. But there is a younger sister of hers, and a fairer still; she shall be thy wife instead.

And Samson answered him: From this day I shall be blameless in what I do against the Philistines: for I will do you evils.

Cui Samson respondit: Ab hac die non erit culpa in me contra Philisthæos: faciam enim vobis mala.

From this day onward, Samson answered, the Philistines are to blame, not I, if I do them despite.

And he went and caught three hundred foxes, and coupled them tail to tail, and fastened torches between the tails.

Perrexitque et cepit trecentas vulpes, caudasque earum junxit ad caudas, et faces ligavit in medio:

Away he went, and caught three hundred foxes; roped them, tail to tail, with fire-brands between,

And setting them on fire he let the foxes go, that they might run about hither and thither. And they presently went into the standing corn of the Philistines. Which being set on fire, both the corn that was already carried together, and that which was yet standing, was all burnt, insomuch, that the flame consumed also the vineyards and the oliveyards.

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.

and so turned them loose, with the fire-brands alight. Soon they were among the crops of the Philistines, which caught fire, stooks and standing corn alike, and set fire in their turn to olive-yard and vineyard.

Then the Philistines said: Who hath done this thing? And it was answered: Samson the son in law of the Thamnathite, because he took away his wife, and gave her to another, hath done these things. And the Philistines went up and burnt both the woman and her father.

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.

When the Philistines enquired about the author of this, they were told how Samson’s wife had been taken from him and given to one of his friends, and this was his revenge on his father-in-law. Whereupon they made their way to Thamnatha, and burned both the woman and her father alive.

But Samson said to them: Although you have done this, yet will I be revenged of you, and then I will be quiet.

Quibus ait Samson: Licet hæc feceritis, tamen adhuc ex vobis expetam ultionem, et tunc quiescam.

Well, said Samson, you have had your way, but I will make you suffer for it before I have done with you;

And he made a great slaughter of them, so that in astonishment they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And going down he dwelt in a cavern of the rock Etam.

Percussitque eos ingenti plaga, ita ut stupentes suram femori imponerent. Et descendens habitavit in spelunca petræ Etam.

and with that he made such a massacre that all sat huddled in fear of him. Then he left them, and went to live in a cave on the Rock of Etam.

Then the Philistines going up into the land of Juda, camped in the place which afterwards was called Lechi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army was spread.

Igitur ascendentes Philisthiim in terram Juda, castrametati sunt in loco, qui postea vocatus est Lechi, id est, Maxilla, ubi eorum effusus est exercitus.

And now the Philistines invaded Juda, encamping, with little order, about the place afterwards called Lechi, the Jaw-bone;

And the men of the tribe of Juda said to them: Why are you come up against us? They answered: We are come to bind Samson, and to pay him for what he hath done against us.

Dixeruntque ad eos de tribu Juda: Cur ascendistis adversum nos? Qui responderunt: Ut ligemus Samson venimus, et reddamus ei quæ in nos operatus est.

and when the men of Juda asked on what errand they came, they said they had come to make Samson prisoner, and take vengeance on him for all the ill he had done them.

Wherefore three thousand men of Juda, went down to the cave of the rock Etam, and said to Samson: Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? Why wouldst thou do thus? And he said to them: As they did to me, so have I done to them.

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.

So three thousand men of Juda went to the cave on the Rock of Etam; What are these wild doings of thine? they asked Samson. Dost thou not know that the Philistines have the upper hand of us? Nay, said he, I did but serve them as they served me first.

And they said to him, We are come to bind thee and to deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them: Swear to me, and promise me, that you will not kill me.

Ligare, inquiunt, te venimus, et tradere in manus Philisthinorum. Quibus Samson: Jurate, ait, et spondete mihi quod non occidatis me.

Our purpose, they said, is to hand thee over bound to the Philistines. Swear to me then, answered Samson, that you will not kill me yourselves.

They said: We will not kill thee: but we will deliver thee up bound. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him from the rock Etam.

Dixerunt: Non te occidemus, sed vinctum trademus. Ligaveruntque eum duobus novis funibus, et tulerunt eum de petra Etam.

Kill thee? said they. No, we will not kill thee; we will hand thee over as a prisoner. So bound he was, with two new ropes, and carried away from the Rock of Etam.

Now when he was come to the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines shouting went to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came strongly upon him: and as the flax is wont to be consumed at the approach of fire, so the bands with which he was bound were broken and loosed.

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.

Loud was the Philistines’ cry of triumph that went up to meet him at Lechi; but suddenly the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and his bonds parted and snapped like scorched tow.

And finding a jawbone, even the jawbone of an ass which lay there, catching it up, he slew therewith a thousand men.

Inventamque maxillam, id est, mandibulam asini, quæ jacebat, arripiens interfecit in ea mille viros,

No weapon had he, but he found a bone lying there, an ass’s jaw-bone; took that instead, and killed a thousand men with it.

And he said: With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of asses I have destroyed them, and have slain a thousand men.

et ait: In maxilla asini, in mandibula pulli asinarum, delevi eos, et percussi mille viros.

With the bone of an ass, he cried, I have made bones of them; with the bone of an ass a thousand men lie slain.

And when he had ended these words singing, he threw the jawbone out of his hand, and called the name of that place Ramathlechi, which is interpreted the lifting up of the jawbone.

Cumque hæc verba canens complesset, projecit mandibulam de manu, et vocavit nomen loci illius Ramathlechi, quod interpretatur, Elevatio maxillæ.

This song sung, he threw the jaw-bone away; and the name he gave to the place was Ramath-Lechi, the Brandishing of the Jaw-bone.

And being very thirsty, he cried to the Lord, and said: Thou hast given this very great deliverance and victory into the hand of thy servant: and behold I die for thirst, and shall fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.

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.

But now he was thirsty, and made his complaint to the Lord, Here is a servant of thine, whom thou hast used to win a great victory, a great deliverance, and dying of thirst! Wilt thou leave me, after all, at the mercy of men uncircumcised?

Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of the ass, and waters issued out of it. And when he had drank them he refreshed his spirit, and recovered his strength. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Spring of him that invoked from the jawbone, until this present day.

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.

And at that, the Lord made the hollow cleft which is called the Tooth of the Jaw-bone, and water came out of it; so he drank, and his spirits revived, and his strength returned to him. The place has been called the Praying Well of Lechi ever since.

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Judicavitque Israël in diebus Philisthiim viginti annis.

For twenty years after that, while the Philistine troubles lasted, Samson was ruler of Israel.