[1] Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, and went in to her.
[2] [It was told] the Gazites, saying, Samson is come here. They compassed
him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were
quiet all the night, saying, [Let be] until morning light, then we will
kill him. [3] Samson lay until midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid
hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked
them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to
the top of the mountain that is before Hebron. [4] It came to pass
afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was
Delilah. [5] The lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her,
Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we
may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will
each give you of us eleven hundred [pieces] of silver. [6] Delilah said to
Samson, Tell me, Please, in which your great strength lies, and with which
you might be bound to afflict you. [7] Samson said to her, If they bind me
with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become 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] Now she had liers-in-wait abiding in the inner chamber. She said to
him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. He broke the cords, as a string of
tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known. [10]
Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now
tell me, Please, with which you might be bound. [11] He said to her, If
they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then
shall I become weak, and be as another man. [12] So Delilah took new ropes,
and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines are on you,
Samson. The liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. He broke them
off his arms like a thread. [13] Delilah said to Samson, Hitherto you have
mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with which you might be bound. He said
to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web. [14] She
fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are on you,
Samson. He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam,
and the web. [15] She said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your
heart is not with me? you have mocked me these three times, and have not
told me in which your great strength lies. [16] It happened, when she
pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to
death. [17] He told her all his heart, 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,
and be like any other man." [18] When Delilah saw that he had told her all
his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying,
Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart. Then the lords of the
Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand. [19] She
made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the
seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength
went from him. [20] She said, The Philistines are on you, Samson. He awoke
out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake
myself free. But he didn`t know that Yahweh had departed from him. [21] The
Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him
down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the
prison-house. [22] However the hair of his head began to grow again after
he was shaved. [23] The lords of the Philistines gathered them together 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] When the people
saw him, they praised their god; for they said, Our god has delivered into
our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of
us. [25] It happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call
for Samson, that he may make us sport. They called for Samson out of the
prison-house; and he made sport before them. They set him between the
pillars: [26] and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, Allow me
that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean on
them. [27] Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of
the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand
men and women, who saw while Samson made sport. [28] Samson called to
Yahweh, and said, Lord Yahweh, remember me, Please, and strengthen me,
Please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the
Philistines for my two eyes. [29] Samson took hold of the two middle
pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his
right hand, and the other with his left. [30] Samson said, Let me die with
the Philistines. He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on
the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he
killed at his death were more than those who 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. He judged Israel twenty years.
