Judges 16

1. Then Samson went to Gaza. And he saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

2. The Gazites were told, saying, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded him and laid wait for him all night at the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Until the light of the morning, then we shall kill him.”

3. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and picked them up, with the bar, and put them upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.

4. And afterwards it came to pass, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, “Lure him and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, so that we may tie him to afflict him. And each one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

6. And Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”

7. And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then I shall be weak and be as another man.”

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

9. And the ambush was waiting with her in the inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords like a thread of flax when it touches fire. And the secret of his strength was not known.

10. And Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please, tell me with what you may be bound.”

11. And he said to her, “If they bind me fast with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall be weak and be as another man.”

12. And Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the ambush was waiting for him in the inner room. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

13. And Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me until now, and told me lies. Tell me with what you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.”

14. And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awakened out of his sleep, and pulled out the pin, the handloom and the web.

15. And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ and your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me in what your great strength lies.”

16. And it came to pass because she distressed him with her words daily and urged him, his soul was grieved to death.

17. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has not come upon my hair, for I am a Nazarite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak and be like any man.

18. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come this once, for he has showed me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought silver in their hands.

19. And she made him sleep upon her knees. And she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. And she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20. And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke out of his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

21. And the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass. And he did grind grain in the prison house.

22. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after he had been shaven.

23. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered in order to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.”

24. And the people saw him and praised their god, for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hand, and the destroyer of our country, who killed many of us.”

25. And when their hearts were merry, it came to pass that they said, “Call for Samson and he will make sport for us.” And they called for Samson out of the prison house. And he made sport for them, and they set him between the pillars.

26. And Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars upon which the house stands, so that I may lean upon them.”

27. Now the house was full of men and women. And all the lords of the Philistines were there. And upon the roof were about three thousand men and women who watched while Samson made sport.

28. And Samson called to the LORD and said, “O, Lord GOD, remember me, I pray You, and strengthen me, I pray You, only this once, O God, so that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

29. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was held up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

30. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And he pushed mightily with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those he killed in his life.

31. Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying place of Manoah his father. And he had judged Israel twenty years.