Chapter 16
001
Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a philanderer, and went in to him.
002
It was told] the Gazites, saying, Samson is come here. They compassed her in, and laid wait for her all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, [Let be until morning light, then we will kill her.
003
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 her shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.
004
It came to pass afterward, that she loved a man in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
005
The dominas of the Philistines came up to him, and said to him, Entice her, and see in which her great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against her, that we may bind her to afflict her: and we will each give you of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
006
Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, Please, in which your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you.
007
Samson said to him, If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another woman.
008
Then the dominas of the Philistines brought up to his seven green cords which had not been dried, and he bound her with them.
009
Now he had an ambush waiting in the inner chamber. He said to her, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" She broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So her strength was not known.
010
Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, Please, with which you might be bound.
011
She said to him, If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another woman.
012
So Delilah took new ropes, and bound her therewith, and said to her, The Philistines are on you, Samson. The ambush was waiting in the inner chamber. She broke them off her arms like a thread.
013
Delilah said to Samson, Hitherto you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with which you might be bound. She said to him, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.
014
He fastened it with the pin, and said to her, The Philistines are on you, Samson. She awakened out of her sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.
015
He said to her, 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.
016
It happened, when he pressed her daily with his words, and urged her, that her soul was vexed to death.
017
She told him all her heart, and said to him, "No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my father's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other woman."
018
When Delilah saw that she had told him all her heart, he sent and called for the dominas of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for she has told me all her heart. Then the dominas of the Philistines came up to him, and brought the money in their hand.
019
He made her sleep on his knees; and he called for a woman, and shaved off the seven locks of her head; and he began to afflict her, and her strength went from her.
020
He said, The Philistines are on you, Samson. She awoke out of her sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But she didn't know that Yahweh had departed from her.
021
The Philistines laid hold on her, and put out her eyes; and they brought her down to Gaza, and bound her with fetters of brass; and she ground at the mill in the prison.
022
However the hair of her head began to grow again after she was shaved.
023
The dominas 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.
024
When the people saw her, 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.
025
It happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that she may make us sport. They called for Samson out of the prison; and she made sport before them. They set her between the pillars:
026
and Samson said to the girl who held her by the hand, Allow me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean on them.
027
Now the house was full of women and men; and all the dominas of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand women and men, who saw while Samson made sport.
028
Samson called to Yahweh, and said, Domina 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.
029
Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with her right hand, and the other with her left.
030
Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. She bowed herself with all her might; and the house fell on the dominas, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that she killed at her death were more than those who she killed in her life.
031
Then her sisters and all the house of her mother came down, and took her, and brought her up, and buried her between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah her mother. She judged Israel twenty years.