[力士参孙]弥尔顿力士参孙原文

　　There was a man from Zorah of the tribe of Dan whose name was Manoah and whose wife was barren and Childless. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, "You will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor1 shall touch his head, for the boy is to be a Nazirite consecrated to God from the day of his birth. He will strike the first blow to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines."
　　The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson....
　　Samson went down to Timnath, and there he saw a woman, one of the Philistines. When he came back, he told his father and mother that he had seen a Philistine woman in Timnath and asked them to get her for him as his wife. His father and mother did not know that the Lord was at work in this, seeking an opportunityagainstthe Philistines, who at that time were masters of Israel.
　　 Samson went down to Timnath and,when he reached the vineyards there, a young lion came at him growling2. The spirit of the Lord suddenly seized him and, having no weapon in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as if it were a kid. After a time he went down again to take her to wife; he turned aside to look at the carcass3 of the lion, and he saw a swarm of bees in it, and horney. He scraped4 the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went.
　　 His father went down to see the woman, and Samson gave a feast there as he custom of young men was. When the people saw him,they brought thirty young men to be his escort. Samson said to them, "Let me ask you a riddle5. If you can guess it during the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty lengths of linen and thirty changes of clothing; but if you cannot guess the answer, then you shall give me thirty lengths of linen and thity changes of clothing." So he said to them:
　　Out of the eater came something to eat;
　　out of the strong came something sweet.
　　At the end of three days they had failed to guess the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson"s wife, "Coax your husband and make him tell you the riddle, or we shall burn you and your father"s house." So Samson"s wife wept over him and said, "You do not love me, you only hate me. You have asked my kinsfolk a riddle and you have not told it to me." He said to her, "I have not told it even to my father and mother; and am I to tell you?" But she wept over him every day, and on the seventh day, because she pestered6 him, he told her, and she told the riddle to her kinsfolk. So that same day the men of the city said to Samson before he entered the bridal chamber:
　　What is sweeter than honey?
　　What is stronger than a lion?
　　Ａnd he replied, "If you had not ploughed7 with my heifer8, you would not have found out my riddle." Then the spirit of the Lord suddenlyseized him.He went down to Ashkelon and there he killed thirty men, took their belts and gave their clothes to the men who had answered his riddle; but he was very angry and went off to his father"s house. And Samson"s wife was given in marriage to the friend who had been his groomsman9.
　　 After a while, during the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, taking a kid as a present for her. He said, "I am going to my wife in our bridal chamber," but her father would not let him in. He said, "I was sure that you hated her, so I gave her in marriage to your groomsman. Her young sister is better than she -- take her instead." But Samson said, "This time I will settle my score10 with the Philistines; I will do them some real harm." So he went and caught three hundred jackals11 and got some torches12; he tied the jackals tail to tail and fastened a torch between each pair of tails. He then set the torches alight and turned the jackals loose in the standing corn of the Philistines. He burnt up standing corn and stooks as well, vineyards and olive groves. The Philistines said, "Who has done this?" They were told that it was Samson, because the Timnite,his father-in-law,had taken his wife and given her to his groomsman.SothePhilistines came and burnt her and her father. Samson said, "If you do things like this, I swear I will be revenged upon you before I have done." He smote13 them hip and thigh with great slaughter; and after that he went down to live in a cave in the Rock of Etam.
　　 The Philistines came up and pitched camp in Judah, and overran Lehi.The men of Judah said, "Why have you attacked14 us?" They answered, "We have come to take Samson prisoner and serve him as he served us." So three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the Rock of Etam.They said to Samson, "We have come down to bind you and hand you over to the Philistines." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the cave in the Rock. He came to Lehi, and when they met him, the Philistines shouted in triumph15; but the spirit of the Lord suddenly seized him, the ropes on his arms became like burnt tow and his bonds melted away. He found the jawbone16 of an ass, all raw, and picked it up and slew a thousand men.
　　 Samson was judge over Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
　　
　　来自琐拉来的但族人中有个名叫玛挪亚的。他的妻子没有生育，也就没有孩子。天使出现在她面前说：“你会怀孕产下一子，但是切记不要给他剃头，因为这孩子一生下来就是献身给上帝的拿细耳人，他将开始为将非利士人统治的以色列人解救出来而斗争。”
　　玛挪亚后来生下一个男孩，给他起名为参孙。
　　参孙长大后去亭拿，在那里见到一个女子，一个非利士人。他回来后就告诉了父母，说他在亭拿看见一个非利士女子，他要父母将她娶过来做他妻子。他父母不知道这是上帝的旨意，是想利用这一机会去反对当时奴役以色列人的非利士人。
　　参孙去亭拿，当他到达葡萄园时，一头小狮子吼叫着向他扑来。天主的神灵突然降到参孙身上，他赤手空拳就把狮子撕成碎片，仿佛它只是只羊羔一样。过了一段时间，他又到亭拿去，要娶那女子为妻，路程之中他转入道旁去看看那狮子的尸体，他发现一窝蜜蜂和一些蜜在那上面。他把蜜收集起来，手捧着蜜一边走一边吃。……
　　后来，他父亲去看那女子，参孙还遵照当时年轻人的习俗摆了宴席。当地人见了参孙，就派了三十个年轻人给他作陪。参孙对他们说：“我来说一个谜语，倘若你们有人能在这七天摆宴席时间内猜出了，我就送他三十件衬衣和三十件外衣。但假设你们猜不出来，那就要送我三十件衬衣和三十件外衣”。因此他就告诉他们那谜语：“从食者处可得到食物，从强者处得到甜食物。”三天结束了，其中谁也猜不中答案。第四天，他们对参孙的妻子说：“哄哄你丈夫，让他告诉你谜底，若不我们就把你和你父亲的房子烧了。……”参孙的妻子就向参孙哭泣说：“你不爱我，你仅仅是讨厌我。你给我的亲戚们出了一个谜语，但你没告诉我谜底。”参孙说：“我连父母都没说，难道就告诉你吗?”就为这她每天对他哭诉，到了第七天，因为她纠缠不休，参孙就对她说了，她就将谜底告诉了那些亲戚。因此，在那天，那些城里人在参孙要进新娘房间时对他说：“有什么能甜过蜜吗?有什么能比狮子更勇猛强壮的呢?”参孙说：“如果你们不是利用了我的女人，你们绝不会找到谜底。”此时，天主之灵突然攫住他，他就到亚实基伦去，杀死了三十个非利士人，拿了他们的腰带，将他们的衣裳给了那些答出谜底的人。他怒气冲冲地走了，他返回了父亲家里。而他的妻子已被改嫁给了做他男傧相的那个朋友。
　　过了一段时间，到了收获的季节，参孙去看他的妻子，带了一头羊羔作为礼物送给她。他说：“我要进新房去找我的妻子。”她父亲却禁止他进去。他说：“我以为你恨她，所以我已把她嫁给你的男傧相了。她的妹妹比她好，你就娶她妹妹为妻吧。”但参孙说：“此次我是要来找非利士人算账的。我要给他们点颜色看看。”他去捉了三百只豺狗并拿了一些火把。他将每两只豺狗尾巴拴在一起，中间捆上一个火把。他点着了火把，将豺狗驱赶进非利士人的稻草堆里。这样就把一堆堆的庄稼，将葡萄园和橄榄树都烧个精光。非利士人说：“这是谁做的事?”他们听说是参孙干的，说由于参孙憎恨他的岳父(一个亭那人)将他的妻子许给了他的傧相。于是非利士人就把参孙的妻子和她父亲烧死。参孙说：“你们这种做法，我发誓一定要向你们报仇。”他就动手砍杀那些人，砍得折腿断腰的。结束之后他就离开那地方住到以坦一个岩洞里。
　　非利士人来到犹大安营扎寨，并且拓展到利希。犹大的人说：“你们为什么袭击我们?”他们回答说：“我们是来抓捕参孙的，要以他治我们之法去对付他。”于是三千犹大人去以坦岩洞。他们对参孙说：“我们来把你捆了交给非利士人。”他们就用两根新绳子将他捆上，把他从
　　 岩洞里带出来。他到了利希，当非利士人看见参孙忍不住胜利地大声欢叫呼喊，但天主的神灵突然又降到参孙身上，捆着他臀膀的绳子变得像烧焦了的麻一样，散落下来，他看到有一片驴子的下巴骨，十分锐利，就拾起它并用它砍杀了成千个非利士人。……
　　在非利士人当权的时期，参孙做过以色列的士师二十年。
　　
　　注释：
　　1 razor n. 剃刀
　　2 growl v. 咆哮，发牢骚地说
　　3 carcass n. （屠宰后）畜体
　　4 scrape vi. 刮掉，擦掉
　　5 riddle n. 谜，谜语
　　6 pester vt. 使烦恼，纠缠
　　7 plough v. 耕，犁耕，费力穿过
　　8 heifer n .小母牛，这里指妻子
　　9 groomsman n .男傧相，伴郎
　　10 score n. 刻痕，帐目
　　11 jackal n. 豺，走狗
　　12 torch n. 火把
　　13 smote (smite 的过去式)，v. 重击
　　14 attack vt.攻击，抨击
　　15 triumph n. 胜击，成功
　　16 jawbone n. 颚骨，下颚骨