Judges 16

1 And Samson went to Gaza, and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here. And they encompassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, Not till morning light, then we will kill him.

3 And Samson lay till 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 upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain 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 in what his great strength lays, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what thy great strength lays, and with what thou might be bound to afflict thee.

7 And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then I shall become weak, and be as another man.

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withes which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now she had an ambush abiding in the inner chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the withes, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, thou have mocked me, and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou might be bound.

11 And he said to her, If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I shall become weak, and be as another man.

12 So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with it, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And the ambushment was abiding in the inner chamber. And he broke them off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, Until now thou have mocked me, and told me lies. Tell me with what thou might be bound. And he said to her, If thou weave the seven locks of my head with the web.

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.

15 And she said to him, How can thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? Thou have mocked me these three times, and have not told me with what thy great strength lays.

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to death.

17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite 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 told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep upon 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 And she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free, but he knew not that LORD was departed from him.

21 And 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 grinding in the prison-house.

22 However the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

23 And the lords of the Philistines gathered 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 And 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 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make sport to us. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house, and he made sport before them. And they set him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, Allow me that I may feel the pillars upon which the house rests, that I may lean upon them.

27 Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, who beheld while Samson made sport.

28 And Samson called to LORD, and said, O lord LORD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, 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 upon which the house rested, and leaned upon them, the one with his right hand, and 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 upon the lords, and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those that 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. And he judged Israel twenty years.