Judges 16

Samson and Delilah: Betrayal and Samson's Final Act of Strength

6 min read

1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in to her.
2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come here. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.
3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. ¶
4 And it came to pass afterward, that 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, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give you every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. ¶
6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray you, wherein your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you.
7 And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green thongs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green thongs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines be on you, Samson. And he broke the thongs, as a thread of wick is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
10 And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray you, with which you might be bound.
11 And he said to her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines be on you, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.
13 And Delilah said to Samson, Till now you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with which you might 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 be on you, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. ¶
15 And 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 wherein your great strength lies.
16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed to death;
17 That he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor on my head; for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other 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 up this once, for he has showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought money in their hand.
19 And she made him sleep on 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 be on you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD was departed from him. ¶
21 But 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 in the prison house.
22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for 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 when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.
26 And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house stands, 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, that beheld 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, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house stood, and on which it was borne 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 bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew 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 burial plot of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.
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