Judges 16

VIN^{(i) 1} And Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there and went in to 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 But Samson lay until the middle of the night; he got up in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two door posts, tore them loose with the bar, put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. ⁴ Afterward, he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ And the rulers of the Philistines came up to her and said, "Entice him and find out what makes his strength so great, and how we can overpower him, so that we may bind him up in order to subdue him; each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver. ⁶ So Delilah asked Samson, "Please tell me the secret to your great strength and how you may be tied up and tortured." ⁷ And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green cords, that have not been dried, then shall I become weak, and be as any other man. ⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought to her seven fresh cords which had not been dried, and she tied him with them. ⁹ The ambush was sitting in wait for her in an inner room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you Samson!" And he snapped the bowstrings just as flax fiber snaps when it comes close to fire. And the secret of his strength remained unknown. ¹⁰ Delilah said to Samson, You have made a fool of me and told me lies! Now please tell me how you can be tied. ¹¹ He told her, "If I'm tied up securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I'll become weak and just like any other human being." ¹² And Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and the men lying in wait came out of the chamber, and she said, The Philistines are upon you, Sampson. And he broke them off his arms like a thread. ¹³ Delilah said to Samson, Until now you have fooled me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be tied. He said to her, If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom, I will become as weak as other men. ¹⁴ And she fastened it with a pin, and said to him, Samson, the Philistines are upon you! And he awoke out of his sleep and pulled out the pin, the hand-loom, and the web. ¹⁵ And Delilah said to Sampson, How can you say I love you, when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have deceived me, and have not told me where your great strength lies. ¹⁶ When she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, he became tired to death. ¹⁷ So he told her everything, and said to her, No razor has ever come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me and I will become weak like any other man. ¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent for the lords of the Philistines saying, Come up once more, for he has told me everything. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money with them. ¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees, and then she called for a man who shaved off the seven braids of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he woke up from his sleep and said, "I will go out just like every other time and shake myself free," but he did not know that the LORD had left him. ²¹ And the Philistines seized him, gouged his eyes, and brought him to Gaza. They tied him up with bronze shackles, and he became a grinder in the prison. ²² But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved off. ²³ Then the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. ²⁴ And when the people saw him, they sung praises to their god, saying, Our god hath delivered our enemy into our hands; him who wasted our land, and multiplied the number of our slain. ²⁵ When their hearts were merry they said, Call for Samson so that he can entertain us. They called Samson out of the prison, and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars, ²⁶ And Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, Allow me that I may feel the pillars upon which the house rests, that I may lean upon them. ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women watching while Samson performed. ²⁸ Samson called to the LORD and said, Sovereign LORD, remember me please, and strengthen me please, just this once oh God, that I may with one blow be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes. ²⁹ Then Samson grabbed the two middle pillars upon which the house rested and braced himself against them with one pillar in his right hand and the other in his left. ³⁰ Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines! He pushed with all his might and the house fell on the lords and on all the people who were there. So he killed more in his death than he killed in his life. ³¹ His brothers and his whole family came down and picked him up; and they brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father; he judged Israel twenty years.