Judg 16
1
And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in to her.
2
[And it was told] the Gazites, saying, Samson is come here. And they compassed him
in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the
night, saying, [Let be] till morning light, then we will kill him.
3
And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of
the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put
them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before
Hebron.
4
And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose
name was Delilah.
5
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and
see wherein his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him,
that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give you every one of us eleven hundred
[pieces] of silver.
6
And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray you, wherein your great strength lies,
and wherewith you might be bound to afflict you.
7
And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried,
then shall I become weak, and be as another man.
8
Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withes which had not
been dried, and she bound him with them.
9
Now she had liers-in-wait abiding in the inner chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines
are upon you, Samson. And he brake the withes, as a string of tow is broken when it
touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
10
And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell
me, I pray you, wherewith you might be bound.
11
And he said to her, If they only bind me with new ropes wherewith no work has been
done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.
12
So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines
are upon you, Samson. And the liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. And
he brake them off his arms like a thread.
13
And Delilah said to Samson, Hitherto you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me
wherewith you might be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of
my head with the web.
14
And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson.
And he awaked out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.
15
And she said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me?
you have mocked me these three times, and have not told me wherein your great strength
lies.
16
And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that
his soul was vexed to death.
17
And he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon my
head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother`s womb: if I be shaven, then
my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
18
And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the
lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.
Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand.
19
And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the
seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from
him.
20
And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep,
and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But he knew not
that YHWH was departed from him.
21
And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down
to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.
22
Nevertheless the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
23
And the lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice
to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, Our god has delivered Samson our
enemy into our hand.
24
And when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, Our god has delivered
into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us.
25
And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson,
that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and
he made sport before them. And they set him between the pillars:
26
and Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the
pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean upon them.
27
Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were
there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld
while Samson made sport.
28
And Samson called to YHWH, and said, O Lord YHWH, remember me, I pray you, and strengthen
me, I pray you, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines
for my two eyes.
29
And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house rested, and leaned
upon them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.
30
And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his
might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein.
So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life.
31
Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought
him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his
father. And he judged Israel twenty years.