Judges 16

Now Samson went to Gaza and he saw a woman there, a harlot, and he went in to her.

{And it was told} to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here.” So they encircled and they lay in ambush for him all of the night at the gate of the city. And they kept themselves quiet all of the night, saying, “At the light of the morning, then we will kill him.” \*

Now Samson lay down until the middle of the night, but he arose in the middle of the night, and he seized the doors of the gate of the city and the two doorposts. And he pulled them up with the bar, and he put them on his shoulders, and he brought them up to the head of the hill that is at the face of Hebron. \*

Now it happened afterward that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, and her name {was} Delilah.

And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and they said to her, “Entice him and see in what his great strength {is} and in what we shall overcome him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we ourselves will give to you, a man, 1,100 silver.” \*

So Delilah said to Samson, “Please declare to me in what {is} your great strength and in what you may be bound to humble you.”

And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will weaken and I will be like one of man.” \*

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now the ambush {was} staying for her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines {are} upon you, Samson!” But he broke the cords just as a string of flax is broken in its touching fire. So his strength was not known. \*

And Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have deceived me and spoken lies to me. Now please declare to me in what you may be bound.”

And he said to her, “If binding, they bind me with new ropes with which work has not been done, then I will weaken and I will be like one of man.”

So Delilah took new ropes, and she bound him with them. And she said to him, “The Philistines {are} upon you, Samson!” And the ambush {was} staying in the room. But he broke them from upon his arms like thread. \*

Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and spoken lies to me. Declare to me in what you may be bound!” So he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the warp.”

So she drove with the peg, and she said to him, “The Philistines {are} upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled the peg {from} the weaving and the warp. \*

Then she said to him, “How do you say, ‘I love you,’ yet your heart {is} not with me? These three times you have deceived me and you have not declared to me in what {is} your great strength.”

And it happened that she pressed him with her words all of the days and she urged him, and his soul wore out to death. \*

So he declared to her all of his heart, and he said to her, “A razor has not gone up on my head, for I {have been} a Nazirite of God from the womb of my mother. If I were shaved, then my strength would turn from me, and I would weaken and I would be like all of man.” \*

Then Delilah saw that he had declared to her all of his heart. So she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up one time, for he has declared to me all of his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and they brought up the silver in their hand.

And she put him to sleep on her knees, and she called to a man, and she shaved the seven locks of his head, and she began to humble him, and his strength turned from upon him. \*

And she said, “The Philistines {are} upon you, Samson!” And he woke from his sleep, and he said, “I will go out like time upon time, and I will shake myself.” But he himself did not know that God had turned from upon him.

And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza and they bound him with bronze fetters. And he was grinding in the house of prisoners.

But the hair of his head began to grow after it had been shaved. \*

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered themselves to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and for celebration, for they said, “Our god has given into our hand Samson, our enemies.”

And the people saw him, and they praised their god, for they said, “Our god has given into our hand our enemy and the devastator of our land, and who multiplied our slain.” \*

And it happened, when their heart {was} good, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may make us laugh.” So they called for Samson from the house of prisoners, and he caused laughter to their faces. And they made him stand between the columns.

And Samson said to the young man holding onto his hand, “Let me rest. Let me feel the columns upon which the house is set so I may support myself on them.” \*

Now the house was full {of} men and women, and all of the lords of the Philistines {were} there, and on the roof {were} about 3, 000 men and women, watching to laughing of Samson. \*

Then Samson called to God and he said, “Lord God, please remember me, and please strengthen me only this time, O God, so I may avenge myself {with} one vengeance against the Philistines for my two eyes.”

And Samson grasped the two columns of the center upon which the house was set, and he leaned himself against them, one on his right and one on his left. \*

Then Samson said, “My soul shall die with the Philistines!” And he stretched out with his strength, and the house fell on the lords and on all of the people who {were} in it. So the ones dying whom he killed at his death were more than those he killed in his life.

Then his brothers and all of the house of his father went down. And they lifted him and they went up and they buried him between Zorah and between Eshtaol in the burial place of Manoah, his father. And he had judged Israel 20 years. \*