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went to the city of Gaza one day. He saw a prostitute there, and he went in to her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They remained quiet all night and said, “We will wait until the morning, then at daybreak we will kill him.”
3 But Samson only stayed in bed until the middle of the night; then he got up. He took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and he tore them loose, bars and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines came to her and said, “Entice him and find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him, so we may bind him and subdue him.” Then each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength comes from, and how you can be bound so that no one could subdue you.”
7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 While men with her were lying in wait in her room, she called out to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Please tell me now how you can be bound.”
11 He said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him. “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” There were men lying in wait in her room, but he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up until now you have mocked me and told me lies! Tell me how you can be bound.”
He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head with the web of a loom and fasten it tight with a pin, I will become weak, and be like any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair, wove them into the web, and tightened them with a pin.
Then she said to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the pin, the loom, and the web.
15 Then 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 what makes your strength so great.” 16 And she nagged him day after day with her words and harassed him until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her the whole truth, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength will leave me. Then I will become weak, and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines: “Come up one more time, for he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines came to her, and brought the money in their hands. 19 She lulled him to sleep on her lap, and she called in a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
20 Then she called out, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”
When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. Then they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to work grinding in the milling complex at the prison . 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice.
They said,
“Our god has delivered Samson,
our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god. They said,
“Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands,
the destroyer of our country,
who has killed many of us.”
25 When they were in high spirits, they said, “Bring out Samson, so he can entertain us.” So they brought Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
They positioned him between the pillars, 26 and Samson said to the boy was leading him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars that support the temple, so I can lean on them.” 27 Now the temple was filled with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching while Samson performed. 28 Then Samson cried out to the Lord,
“O Lord God:
Remember me, I pray of You.
Strengthen me, I pray of You.
Only this once, O God.
So that with one blow
I may be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes!”
29 Then Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the temple rested, and he braced himself against them, one with his right hand, and the other with his left. 30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he heaved with all his might, and the temple fell on the rulers and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.
31 Then his brothers and all of his father’s family came down to get him. They carried him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Samson had judged Israel for twenty years.