Judges 16
1 And Samson goes to Gaza, and sees a woman there, a harlot, and goes in to her;
One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.
2 [it is told] to the Gazathites, saying, “Samson has come in here”; and they go around and lay wait for him all the night at the gate of the city, and keep themselves silent all the night, saying, “Until the morning light—then we have slain him.”
When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”
3 And Samson lies down until the middle of the night, and rises in the middle of the night, and lays hold on the doors of the gate of the city, and on the two side-posts, and removes them with the bar, and puts [them] on his shoulders, and takes them up to the top of the hill, which [is] on the front of Hebron.
But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.
4 And it comes to pass afterward that he loves a woman in the Valley of Sorek, and her name [is] Delilah,
Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
5 and the princes of the Philistines come up to her, and say to her, “Entice him, and see wherein his great power [is], and wherein we are able for him—and we have bound him to afflict him, and each one of us gives eleven hundred pieces of silver to you.”
The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
6 And Delilah says to Samson, “Please declare to me wherein your great power [is], and with what you are bound, to afflict you.”
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 And Samson says to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords which have not been dried, then I have been weak, and have been as one of mankind.”
Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”
8 And the princes of the Philistines bring up to her seven green cords which have not been dried, and she binds him with them.
So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.
9 And the ambush is abiding with her in an inner chamber, and she says to him, “Philistines [are] on you, Samson!” And he breaks the cords as a thread of tow is broken in its touching fire, and his power has not been known.
While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.
10 And Delilah says to Samson, “Behold, you have played on me, and speak lies to me; now, please declare to me with what you are bound.”
Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”
11 And he says to her, “If they certainly bind me with thick bands, new ones, by which work has not been done, then I have been weak, and have been as one of mankind.”
He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.”
12 And Delilah takes thick bands, new ones, and binds him with them, and says to him, “Philistines [are] on you, Samson!” And the ambush is abiding in an inner chamber, and he breaks them from off his arms as a thread.
So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads.
13 And Delilah says to Samson, “Until now you have played on me, and speak lies to me; declare to me with what you are bound.” And he says to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.”
Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”
14 And she fixes [it] with the pin and says to him, “Philistines [are] on you, Samson!” And he awakens out of his sleep, and pulls out the pin of the loom, and with the web.
So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.
15 And she says to him, “How do you say, I have loved you, and your heart is not with me? These three times you have played on me, and have not declared to me wherein your great power [is].”
“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
16 And it comes to pass, because she distressed him with her words all the days, and urges him, and his soul is grieved to death,
Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death,
17 that he declares all his heart to her, and says to her, “A razor has not gone up on my head, for I [am] a Nazarite to God from the womb of my mother; if I have been shaven, then my power has turned aside from me, and I have been weak, and have been as all of mankind.”
Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”
18 And Delilah sees that he has declared all his heart to her, and she sends and calls for the princes of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this time, for he has declared all his heart to me”; and the princes of the Philistines have come up to her, and bring up the money in their hand.
When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands.
19 And she makes him sleep on her knees, and calls for a man, and shaves the seven locks of his head, and begins to afflict him, and his power turns aside from off him;
And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him.
20 and she says, “Philistines [are] on you, Samson!” And he awakens out of his sleep and says, “I go out as time by time, and shake free”; but he has not known that YHWH has turned aside from off him.
Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
21 And the Philistines seize him, and pick out his eyes, and bring him down to Gaza, and bind him with two bronze chains; and he is grinding in the prison-house.
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
22 And the hair of his head begins to shoot up when he has been shaven,
However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.
23 and the princes of the Philistines have been gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to rejoice; and they say, “Our god has given our enemy Samson into our hand.”
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”
24 And the people see him, and praise their god, for they said, “Our god has given into our hand our enemy, and he who is laying waste to our land, and who multiplied our wounded.”
And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.”
25 And it comes to pass, when their heart [is] glad, that they say, “Call for Samson, and he entertains for us”; and they call for Samson out of the prison-house, and he entertains their faces, and they cause him to stand between the pillars.
And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
26 And Samson says to the young man who is keeping hold on his hand, “Let me also feel the pillars on which the house is established, and I lean on them.”
Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”
27 And the house has been full of the men and the women, and all the princes of the Philistines [are] there, and about three thousand men and women [are] on the roof, who are watching Samson entertain.
Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.
28 And Samson calls to YHWH and says, “Lord YHWH, please remember me and please strengthen me only this time, O God; and I am avenged—vengeance at once—because of my two eyes, on the Philistines.”
Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 And Samson turns aside [to] the two middle pillars, on which the house is established, and on which it is supported, [to] one with his right hand and one with his left;
And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other,
30 and Samson says, “Let me die with the Philistines,” and he inclines himself powerfully, and the house falls on the princes, and on all the people who [are] in it, and the dead whom he has put to death in his death are more than those whom he put to death in his life.
Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
31 And his brothers come down, and all the house of his father, and lift him up, and bring him up, and bury him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying-place of his father Manoah; and he has judged Israel [for] twenty years.
Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
