Samson Escapes Gaza

1And Samson went to Gaza and saw there a woman, a prostitute, and he went in to her.

2To the Gazites it was said, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded and lay in wait for him all the night at the gate of the city, and they were quiet all the night, saying, “At the light of the morning, then we will kill him.”

3And Samson lay down until the middle of the night. And he arose in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two gateposts, and he pulled them up along with the bar, and he put them on his shoulders, and he brought them up to the top of the hill that is at the face of Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

4And it came to pass after thus, that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah. 5And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him and find out in what is his great power, and by what we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we will give to you, each man, a thousand and a hundred shekels of silver.†”

6And Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, please, in what is your great power, and with what may you be bound to afflict you.”

7And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I shall become weak and I will be as any man.”

8And the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9And they were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.”

And he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks at its touching the fire. And his power was not known.

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

11And he said to her, “If they securely bind me with new ropes that never were used in work, I shall become weak, and be like any man.”

12Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him with them, and she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.”

And they were lying in wait, staying in the room. And he broke them off his arms like a thread.

13And Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told to me lies. Tell me with what you may be bound.”

And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man..†”

14And while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. And she wove it tightly†Then she tightened it with a pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.”

And he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom, and with it the web.

Delilah Learns the Secret

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

16And it came to pass, when she had pressed him with her words all the days, and pleaded, and his soul was grieved to death, 17that he told her all his heart and said to her, “A razor has not ever come upon my head. For I am a Nazirite to God from the womb of my mother. If I am shaven, my power will leave me, and I shall become weak and be as any man.”

18And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.”

And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the silver in their hands.

19And she put him to sleep on her knees, and called for the man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. And she began to subdue him,† and his power turned aside from him. 20And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.”

And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free.” And he did not know that YHWH had turned aside from him.

21And the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and they brought him down to Gaza, and they bound him with bronze shackles. And he was grinding in the house of the imprisoned.

22And the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Samson’s Vengeance and Death

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

24And the people saw him, and they praised their god, for they said,

“Our god has delivered our enemy into our hand,

and he who destroyed our land,

and the one who multiplied our dead.”

25And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” And they called for Samson from the house of the imprisoned, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars.

26And Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the temple is established, so that I can lean on them.”

27And the temple was full of the men and the women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And on the roof about three thousand men and women were watching while Samson performed.

28And Samson called to YHWH and said, “O Lord YHWH, remember me, please, and Strengthen me, please, just this once, O God, that I may take vengeance with one vengeful blow for my two eyes against the Philistines.”

29And Samson took hold of the middle two pillars on which the temple was established, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and one on his left. 30And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.”

And he pushed with power, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. And the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

31And his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and they lifted him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and between Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. And He had judged Israel twenty years.