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.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
|
|