Samson and the lion

Judges 14:5

Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.

サムソンと両親がティムナに向かって行き、町のぶどう畑にさしかかった所で、一頭の若いライオンがサムソンに襲いかかってきました。

Samson telling his riddle to the wedding guests

Judges 14:12-13

 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

サムソンがなぞ解きをしないかと彼らに持ちかける 、みなは乗り気になりまし。「もし君たちが、七日間の祝宴中に私のなぞを解いたら、白生地の着物三十着と柄もの三十着を差し出そう。 だが、もし解けなかったら、同じものをもらうから。」「いいだろう。言ってみろよ。」

The wedding guests answer Samson's riddle

Judges 14:18

Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Samson said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”

七日目の日没前、彼らはサムソンに答えました。「はちみつよりも甘い物は何か。ライオンよりも強いものは何か。」サムソンは憤然として言い返しました。「私の若い雌牛で耕さなかったら、このなぞは解けなかっただろう。」

Samson visiting his wife but denied entrance by her father

Judges 15:1

Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.

やがて、小麦の刈り入れの季節になりました。サムソンは子やぎ一頭を妻への贈り物として持参し、結婚生活を続けようとしました。ところが、彼女の父親は娘の部屋に入れてくれません。

Samson sends foxes through the standing grain of the Philistines

Judges 15:4-5

So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails,  lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

彼は出て行ってきつねを三百匹捕らえ、二匹ずつしっぽを結び合わせ、結び目にたいまつをくくりつけました。そして、たいまつに火をつけと 、ペリシテ人の麦畑にいっせいに放ったのです。たちまち火は燃え上がり、山積みにしてある麦束にも燃え移り、ぶどう畑やオリーブ畑まで丸焼けになってしまいました。

Samson bound by the men of Judah for surrender to the Philistines

Judges 15:13

“Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.

「われわれはおまえを捕まえてペリシテ人に引き渡そうとやって来たのだ。」「わかった。ただし、私を殺さないと約束してくれ。」「もちろんだ。」こうしてサムソンは、二本の新しい綱で縛り上げられ、引き立てられました。

Samson fighting with a jawbone

Judges 15:15

Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

すかさずサムソンは、そこに転がっていたろばのあご骨を拾い上げ、あっという間に千人のペリシテ人を打ち殺しました。

God opens a spring for Samson

Judges 15:19

Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.

すると主は、そばのくぼ地から、水をわき出させました。水を飲んですっかり元気を取り戻したサムソンは、そこをエン・ハコレ〔祈りの人の泉〕と名づけました。その泉は今もあります。

Samson lifted the doors of the gate and carried them to the top of a hill

Judges 16:3

But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

しかし、真夜中まで女と過ごしたサムソンは、そのあと町の門まで行き、二本の門柱もろとも引き抜くと、高々とかつぎ上げ、ヘブロンの向こう側にある山の頂まで運んで行きました。

Delilah shaving Samson's hair

Judges 16:19

After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

彼女はひざ枕でサムソンを眠らせると、床屋を呼び、髪をそり落とさせました。念のためサムソンをたたいてみると、確かに彼の力はなくなっているようです。

In 1970 Watanabe made another print about Delilah shaving Samson's hair. 

Samson in prison

Judges 16:21

Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.

ペリシテ人はサムソンを捕まえると、目をえぐり出し、ガザへ連れて行きました。そこで青銅の足かせをはめて牢に入れ、臼を引かせました。

Samson between two pillars

Judges 16:29

Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other.

祈り終わると、全力を振り絞って二本の柱を押しました。