Judges 16
16Sometime later, Samson went to Gaza, saw a prostitute there, and went in to have sex with her.H3212H8123H5804H7200H802H2181H9352When the Gazites were informed, "Samson has come here!" they surrounded him, intending to lay in wait for him at the city gate throughout the entire night. They kept quiet all night, telling each other, "At first light, let's kill him!"H5841H559H8123H935H5437H693H3915H8179H5892H2790H3915H559H1242H216H20263Meanwhile, Samson had sex until midnight, then at midnight he got up, grabbed the doors, the two door posts, and the bars of the city gate, and uprooted them. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the mountain opposite Hebron.H8123H7901H2677H3915H6965H2677H3915H270H1817H8179H5892H8147H4201H5265H1280H7760H3802H5927H7218H2022H6440H22754After this incident, he loved a woman in Sorek Valley whose name was Delilah.H310H157H802H5158H7796H8034H18075The Philistine officials approached her and told her, "Entice him to discover where his great strength is, and how we can overpower him. We intend to tie him up and torture him. We'll each pay you 1,100 silver coins."H5633H6430H5927H559H6601H7200H1419H3581H3201H631H6031H5414H376H505H3967H37016So Delilah asked Samson, "Please tell me the secret to your great strength and how you may be tied up and tortured."H1807H559H8123H5046H1419H3581H631H60317Samson replied, "If I'm tied up with seven green cords that have never been dried out, then I'll become weak and just like any other human being."H8123H559H631H7651H3892H3499H2717H2470H259H1208Then the Philistine leaders brought her seven green cords that had never been dried, and she tied him up with them.H5633H6430H5927H7651H3892H3499H2717H6319Meanwhile, some kidnappers were hiding inside an inner room, waiting for her signal. So she told him, "The Philistines are attacking you!" But he snapped the cords as one might break a burned candle wick. So his secret remained undiscovered.H693H3427H2315H559H6430H8123H5423H3499H6616H5296H5423H7306H784H3581H304510Some time later, Delilah told Samson, "Look here! You've been mocking me and lying to me. Now please tell me how you can be tied up."H1807H559H8123H2048H1696H3577H5046H63111He told her, "If I'm tied up securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I'll become weak and just like any other human being."H559H631H631H2319H5688H4399H6213H2470H259H12012So Delilah grabbed some new ropes and tied him up. Then she told him, "The Philistines are attacking you, Samson!" because some kidnappers were hiding inside an inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms like thread.H1807H3947H2319H5688H631H559H6430H8123H693H3427H2315H5423H2220H233913Later on, Delilah said to Samson, "You're still been mocking me and telling me lies! Tell me how to tie you up!" He answered her, "If you weave the seven locks of my hair into a loom and fasten it with a peg, then I will become weak and just like any other human being."H1807H559H8123H2008H2048H1696H3577H5046H631H559H707H7651H4253H7218H454514So Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the loom while he slept. She fastened his hair with a peg and then said to him, "The Philistines are attacking you, Samson!" But he woke up from his nap and pulled the pin from the loom and the weaving.H8628H3489H559H6430H8123H3364H8142H5265H3489H708H454515Some time later, she asked him, "How can you keep saying 'I love you!' when your heart isn't with me?These three times you've lied to me and haven't told me where your great strength lies."H559H349H559H157H3820H2048H7969H6471H5046H1419H358116She nagged him every day with this speech, pestering him until he was annoyed nearly to death.H6693H3117H1697H509H5315H7114H419117So he finally disclosed everything. He told her, "A razor has never touched my head, because I've been a Nazarite for God before I was born. If I am shaved, then my strength will abandon me and I will become weak like every human being."H5046H3820H559H5927H4177H7218H5139H430H517H990H1548H3581H5493H2470H12018When Delilah realized that he had disclosed everything to her, she sent for the Philistine officials and told them, "Hurry up and come here at once, because he has told me everything." So the Philistine officials went to her and brought their money with them.H1807H7200H5046H3820H7971H7121H5633H6430H559H5927H6471H5046H3820H5633H6430H5927H5927H3701H302719So she enticed him to fall asleep on her lap, called for a man to shave off his seven locks of hair from his head, and so began to humiliate him. Then his strength abandoned him.18H3462H1290H7121H376H1548H7651H4253H7218H2490H6031H3581H549320When she cried out, "The Philistines are attacking you, Samson!" he woke from his sleep and said to himself, "I'll go out like I did at other times like this and shake myself free." But he didn't know that the Lord had abandoned him.H559H6430H8123H3364H8142H559H3318H6471H5287H3045H3068H549321Then the Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, tied him up in bronze chains, and made him grind grain in their prison.H6430H270H5365H5869H3381H5804H631H5178H2912H631H100422But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved off.H8181H7218H2490H6779H834H154823Some time later, the Philistine officials got together to present a magnificent sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to throw a party, because they were claiming, "Our god has given Samson into our control!"H5633H6430H622H2076H1419H2077H1712H430H8057H559H430H5414H8123H341H302724When the people saw Samson, they praised their god, claiming: Our god has given our enemy into our control; the one who was destroying our land, and who has killed many of us.H5971H7200H1984H430H559H430H5414H3027H341H2717H776H2491H723525Because they all got good and drunk, they ordered, "Go get Samson, so he can entertain us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them while they made him stand between the pillars.H3820H2896H559H7121H8123H7832H7121H8123H631H1004H6440H6711H5975H598226Then Samson said to the young man who had been leading him around by the hand, "Let me touch and feel the pillars on which this building rests, and I'll support myself against them."H8123H559H5288H2388H3027H3240H4184H3237H5982H1004H3559H817227Now the building was full of men, women, and all the Philistine officials, with about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching Samson while he was entertaining them.1626H1004H4390H582H802H5633H6430H1406H7969H505H376H802H7200H8123H783228Then Samson cried out to the Lord, "Lord God, please remember me. And please strengthen me this one time, God, so that I can repay the Philistines right now for my two eyes."H8123H7121H3068H559H136H3069H2142H2388H6471H430H259H5358H5359H6430H8147H586929Then Samson grabbed the two middle pillars upon which the house rested and braced himself against them with one pillar in his right hand and the other in his left.H8123H3943H8147H8432H5982H1004H3559H5564H259H3225H259H804030Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He strained with all his strength until the building collapsed on the officials and every person in it. As a result, the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime. Afterwards, his brothers and his father's household servants came down, took him, brought him back, and buried him in his father Manoah's tomb between Zorah and Eshtaol. He had governed Israel for 20 years.H8123H559H4191H5315H6430H5186H3581H1004H5307H5633H5971H4191H4191H4194H7227H4191H2416
Columbus, OH
