< Judges 16 >

1 One day Samson went to Gaza [city in the Philistia area]. He spent some time with a prostitute.
And he went Samson Gaza towards and he saw there a woman a prostitute and he went into her.
2 People soon found out that Samson was there, so the men of Gaza gathered together at the city gate and waited all night. They said to themselves, “When it dawns tomorrow morning, we will kill him [when he tries to leave the city].”
To the Gazites - saying he has come Samson here and they surrounded and they lay in wait for him all the night at [the] gate of the city and they were silent all the night saying until [the] light of the morning and we will kill him.
3 But Samson did not stay there all night. At midnight, he got up. He went to the city gate, he took hold of its two posts, and he lifted it up out of the ground, with its [connecting cross] bar still attached. He put it on his shoulders and carried it [many miles] uphill to Hebron.
And he lay down Samson until [the] middle of the night and he arose - in [the] middle of the night and he took hold on [the] doors of [the] gate of the city and on [the] two the doorposts and he pulled up them with the bar and he put [them] on shoulders his and he carried up them to [the] top of the mountain which [is] on [the] face of Hebron.
4 Later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, [and started to live with her]. She lived in Sorek Valley [in the Philistia area].
And it was after thus and he loved a woman in [the] valley of Sorek and name her [was] Delilah.
5 The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Find out from Samson what makes him so strong. And find out how we can subdue him and tie him up securely. If you do that, each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
And they went up to her [the] rulers of [the] Philistines and they said to her entice him and see how? [is] strength his great and how? will we prevail to him and we will bind him to humble him and we we will give to you each one thousand and one hundred silver.
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong, and tell me how someone can subdue you and tie you up.”
And she said Delilah to Samson tell! please to me how? [is] strength your great and how? will you be bound to humble you.
7 Samson said, “If someone ties me with seven new bowstrings, ones that are not dry yet, I will become as weak as other men.”
And he said to her Samson if people will bind me with seven cords fresh which not they have been dried and I will be weak and I will be like one of humankind.
8 So [after Delilah told that to the Philistine leaders], they brought seven new bowstrings to Delilah.
And they brought up to her [the] rulers of [the] Philistines seven cords fresh which not they had been dried and she bound him with them.
9 Then she hid the men in one of the rooms in her house. Then [while Samson was sleeping], she tied him up with the bowstrings. Then she called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come here to capture you!” But Samson snapped the bowstrings as easily as though they were strings that had been singed in a fire. So the Philistines did not find out what made Samson so strong.
And the ambusher [was] sitting of her in the chamber and she said to him [the] Philistines [are] on you O Samson and he tore apart the cords just as it is torn apart thread of tow when smells it fire and not it was known strength his.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have deceived me and lied to me! Now tell me [the truth, ] how someone can tie you up securely.”
And she said Delilah to Samson here! you have deceived me and you have spoken to me lies now tell! please to me how? will you be bound.
11 Samson replied, “If someone ties me with new ropes, ones that have never been used, I will be as weak as other men.”
And he said to her certainly [if] they will bind me with ropes new which not it has been done with them work and I will be weak and I will be like one of humankind.
12 So again, [she told the Philistine leaders, and] they [came and] hid in the room as they had done before. And again, while Samson was sleeping, she took the new ropes and tied him up with them. Then she called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson snapped the ropes on his arms as easily as if they were threads.
And she took Delilah ropes new and she bound him with them and she said to him [the] Philistines [are] on you O Samson and the ambusher [was] sitting in the chamber and he tore apart them from on arms his like thread.
13 Then Delilah said, “You have deceived me and lied to me [again]! Please tell me how someone can tie you up securely!” Samson replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the threads you are weaving on the loom, and then fasten those threads with the pin [that makes the threads tight], then I will be as weak as other men.” So again, while Samson was sleeping on her lap, Delilah held the seven braids of his hair, and wove them into the threads on the loom,
And she said Delilah to Samson until now you have deceived me and you have spoken to me lies tell! to me how? will you be bound and he said to her if you will weave seven [the] plaits of head my with the web. (And you will strike with a pin to the wall and I will be weak and I will be like one man. *X*)
14 and she tightened them with the pin. Then she called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson woke up and pulled out the pin, and pulled his hair from the threads on the loom.
(And she made sleep him and she wove seven [the] plaits head his with the web *X*) and she thrust with the pin and she said to him [the] Philistines [are] on you O Samson and he awoke from sleep his and he pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.
15 Then Delilah said to him, “How can you say that you love me when you do not tell me the truth about yourself? You have deceived me three times, and you still have not told me what really makes you so strong!”
And she said to him how? will you say I love you and heart your not [is] with me this three times you have deceived me and not you have told to me how? [is] strength your great.
16 Day after day she nagged him like that. He thought he would die from her nagging [IDM].
And it was that she pressed him with words her all the days and she urged him and it was short self his to die.
17 Finally Samson told her the truth. He said, “I have been set apart for God since the day I was born. And because of that, my hair has never been cut. If my hair were shaved off, my strength would be gone, and I would be as weak as other men.”
And he told to her all heart his and he said to her a razor not it has come up on head my for [am] a Nazirite of God I from [the] womb of mother my if I was shaved and it will depart from me strength my and I will be weak and I will be like every man.
18 Delilah realized that this time he had told her the truth. So she summoned the Philistine leaders again, saying, “Come back one more time, because Samson has really told me everything [about why he is so strong]”. So the Philistine leaders returned and brought to Delilah the money [that they promised to give her].
And she saw (Delilah *LA(bh)*) that he had told to her all heart his and she sent and she summoned [the] rulers of [the] Philistines saying come up this time for he has told (to me *Q(K)*) all heart his and they came up to her [the] rulers of [the] Philistines and they brought up the silver in hand their.
19 Again she lulled Samson to sleep, with his head in her lap. Then she called one of the Philistine men to come and shave off Samson’s hair. As he did that, Samson began to get weaker. And finally his strength was all gone.
And she made sleep him on knees her and she summoned the man and she shaved off seven [the] plaits of head his and she began to humble him and it departed strength his from on him.
20 Then [after she tied him up], she called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” He woke up and thought, “I will do as I did before. I will shake [these ropes] off myself and be free!” But he did not realize that Yahweh had left him.
And she said [the] Philistines [are] on you O Samson and he awoke from sleep his and he said I will go out as time on time so I may shake myself free and he not he knew that Yahweh he had departed from with him.
21 So the Philistine men seized him and gouged out his eyes. Then they took him to Gaza. There they put him in prison and bound him with bronze chains. They made him [turn a millstone to] grind grain [every day].
And they seized him [the] Philistines and they gouged out eyes his and they brought down him Gaza towards and they bound him with bronze fetters and he was grinding in [the] house of (those imprisoned. *Q(K)*)
22 But his hair started to grow again.
And it began [the] hair of head his to grow back when it had been shaved.
23 [Several months later] the Philistine leaders celebrated a big festival. During the festival they offered sacrifices to their god Dagon. They praised him, saying, “Our god has enabled us to defeat our great enemy Samson!”
And [the] rulers of [the] Philistines they gathered to sacrifice a sacrifice great to Dagon god their and for joy and they said he has given god our in hand our Samson enemies our.
24 And when the other people saw Samson, they also praised their god Dagon, saying, “Samson ruined our crops and killed many of our people, but our god has put our enemy into our hands. Our god helped us to capture the one who has killed so many of us!”
And they saw him the people and they praised god their for they said he has given god our in hand our enemy our and [the] desolator of land our and who he has multiplied slain [ones] our.
25 By that time the people were half-drunk. They shouted, “Bring Samson out of the prison! Bring him here so that he can entertain us!” So they brought Samson from the prison and made fun of him. Then they made him stand in the center of the temple. They made him stand between the two pillars that held up the roof.
And it was (like good *Q(K)*) heart their and they said summon Samson so he may make sport for us and they summoned Samson from [the] house of (those imprisoned *Q(K)*) and he made sport before them and they made stand him between the pillars.
26 Samson said to the servant who was leading him by his hand, “Place my hands against the two pillars. I want to rest against them.”
And he said Samson to the young man who kept hold on hand his permit! me (and let feel me *Q(K)*) the pillars which the house [is] established on them so I may lean on them.
27 At that time the temple was full of men and women. All the Philistine leaders were also there. And there were about 3,000 people on the roof, watching Samson and making fun of him.
And the house was full men and women and [were] there all [the] rulers of [the] Philistines and [were] on the roof about three thousand man and woman who were looking when sported Samson.
28 Then Samson prayed, saying, “Yahweh, my Lord, think about me again! Please give me strength one more time, so that I may get revenge on the Philistines for gouging out my eyes!”
And he called out Samson to Yahweh and he said O Lord Yahweh remember me please and strengthen me please only the time this O God so let me avenge myself vengeance of one from [the] two eyes my from [the] Philistines.
29 Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars of the temple. He put his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other pillar.
And he grasped Samson [the] two - [the] pillars of the middle which the house [was] established on them and he supported himself on them one in right [hand] his and one in left [hand] his.
30 Then he shouted [to God], “Let me die with the Philistines!”, and he pushed with all his strength. [The pillars collapsed], and the temple crashed down on the Philistine leaders and all the other Philistine people, [and they all died]. So Samson killed more people when he died than he had killed all during his life.
And he said Samson let it die life my with [the] Philistines and he stretched out with strength and it fell the house on the rulers and on all the people which [was] in it and they were the dead whom he killed in death his many more than [those] whom he had killed in life his.
31 Later his brothers and their relatives went down [from Zorah to Gaza] to get his body. They took it back home and buried it between Zorah and Eshtaol, at the place where Samson’s father Manoah was buried. Samson had been Israel’s leader for 20 years.
And they went down brothers his and all [the] household of father his and they carried him and they brought [him] up - and they buried him between Zorah and between Eshtaol in [the] tomb of Manoah father his and he he judged Israel twenty year[s].

< Judges 16 >