Judges 16

NSB^{(i) 1} Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza. He met a prostitute and went to bed with her. ² The people of Gaza discovered that Samson was there. They surrounded the place and waited for him all night long at the city gate. They were quiet all night, thinking: »We will wait until daybreak and kill him.« ³ However Samson stayed in bed until midnight. He got up and took hold of the city gate and pulled it up, doors, posts, lock, and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them far off to the top of the hill overlooking Hebron. ⁴ After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in Sorek Valley. ⁵ The five Philistine kings said to her: »Entice Samson into telling you why he is so strong and how we can overpower him. Tie him up, and make him helpless. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.« ⁶ Delilah said to Samson: »Tell me what makes you so strong. How could you be subdued and tied up?« ⁷ Samson answered: »If they tie me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I’ll be as weak as anybody else.« ⁸ The Philistine kings brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that were not dried out, and she tied Samson up. ⁹ She had some men waiting in another room, so she shouted: »Samson! The Philistines are coming!« But he snapped the bowstrings just as thread breaks when fire touches it. They still did not know the secret of his strength. ¹⁰ Delilah told Samson: »You made a fool of me. What is the truth? Please tell me how someone could tie you up.« ¹¹ He said: »If I am tied with new unused ropes I will be weak.« ¹² Delilah tied him with new ropes. Then she shouted: »Samson! The Philistines are coming!« The men were waiting in another room. However he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread. ¹³ Delilah said to Samson: »You still make a fool of me. What is the truth? Tell me how someone could tie you up.« He told her: »If you weave my seven locks of hair into a loom, and make it tight with a peg, I will be weak.« ¹⁴ Delilah lulled him to sleep. She took his seven locks of hair and wove them into the loom. She made it tight with a peg and shouted: »Samson! The Philistines are coming!« He woke up and pulled his hair loose from the loom. ¹⁵ »How can you say you love me,« she asked: »when you do not mean it? You have made a fool of me three times. You still have not told me what makes you strong.« ¹⁶ She kept asking him, day after day. He got sick and tired of her nagging him. ¹⁷ So finally he told her the truth: »My hair has never been cut,« he said: »I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. I would lose my strength if my hair were cut.« ¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he told her the truth, she sent a message to the Philistine kings: »Come back one more time. He told me the truth. They came and brought the money with them.« ¹⁹ Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and called a man, who cut off Samson’s seven locks of hair. Then she tormented him, for he had lost his strength. ²⁰ She shouted: »Samson! The Philistines are coming!« He woke up and thought: »I will get loose and go free, as always.« He did not know that Jehovah had left him. ²¹ The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with copper chains. They put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison. ²² His hair grew back. ²³ The Philistine kings met together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: »Our god gave us victory over our enemy Samson!« ²⁴ They praised their god and said: »Call Samson, and make him entertain us!« They brought Samson out of the prison and they made him entertain them. ²⁵ They forced him to stand between the columns. When the people saw him, they sang praise to their god: »Our god gave us victory over our enemy, who devastated our land and killed so many of us!« ²⁶ Samson said to the boy who led him by the hand: »Let me touch the columns that hold up the building. I want to lean on them.« ²⁷ The building was crowded with men and women. All five Philistine kings were there. There were about three thousand men and women on the roof, watching Samson entertain them. ²⁸ Samson prayed: »Sovereign Lord Jehovah please remember me. Please, God, give me my strength just this one time. With this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.« ²⁹ Then Samson took hold of the two middle columns holding up the building. He put one hand on each column. He pushed against them. ³⁰ Samson shouted: »Let me die with the Philistines!« He pushed with all his might, and the building fell down on the five kings and everyone else. Samson killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life. ³¹ His brothers and the rest of his family came to get his body. They took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had been Israel’s judge for twenty years.