Judges 16:24 - Prayer Tents



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Judges 16
Holman Christian Standard Bible Help

Samson and Delilah

16Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her.H3212H8123H5804H7200H802H2181H935
2When the Gazites [heard] that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. While they were waiting quietly, they said, "Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him."H5841H559H8123H935H5437H693H3915H8179H5892H2790H3915H559H1242H216H2026
3But Samson stayed in bed until midnight when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.H8123H7901H2677H3915H6965H2677H3915H270H1817H8179H5892H8147H4201H5265H1280H7760H3802H5927H7218H2022H6440H2275
4Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.H310H157H802H5158H7796H8034H1807
5The Philistine leaders went to her and said, "Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver."H5633H6430H5927H559H6601H7200H1419H3581H3201H631H6031H5414H376H505H3967H3701
6So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me, where does your great strength [come from]? How could [someone] tie you up and make you helpless?"H1807H559H8123H5046H1419H3581H631H6031
7Samson told her, "If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man."H8123H559H631H7651H3892H3499H2717H2470H259H120
8The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.H5633H6430H5927H7651H3892H3499H2717H631
9While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. [The secret of] his strength remained unknown.H693H3427H2315H559H6430H8123H5423H3499H6616H5296H5423H7306H784H3581H3045
10Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me and told me lies! Won't you please tell me how you can be tied up?"H1807H559H8123H2048H1696H3577H5046H631
11He told her, "If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man."H559H631H631H2319H5688H4399H6213H2470H259H120
12Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.H1807H3947H2319H5688H631H559H6430H8123H693H3427H2315H5423H2220H2339
13Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up." He told her, "If you weave the seven braids on my head with the web of a loom—"H1807H559H8123H2008H2048H1696H3577H5046H631H559H707H7651H4253H7218H4545
14She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.H8628H3489H559H6430H8123H3364H8142H5265H3489H708H4545
15"How can you say, 'I love you,' " she told him, "when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!"H559H349H559H157H3820H2048H7969H6471H5046H1419H3581
16Because she nagged him day after day and pled with him until she wore him out,H6693H3117H1697H509H5315H7114H4191
17he told her the whole truth and said to her, "My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man."H5046H3820H559H5927H4177H7218H5139H430H517H990H1548H3581H5493H2470H120
18When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: "Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth." The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the money with them.H1807H7200H5046H3820H7971H7121H5633H6430H559H5927H6471H5046H3820H5633H6430H5927H5927H3701H3027
19Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she rendered him helpless, and his strength left him.H3462H1290H7121H376H1548H7651H4253H7218H2490H6031H3581H5493
20Then she cried, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" When he awoke from his sleep, he said, "I will escape as I did before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.H559H6430H8123H3364H8142H559H3318H6471H5287H3045H3068H5493

Samson’s Defeat and Death

21The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.H6430H270H5365H5869H3381H5804H631H5178H2912H631H1004
22But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.H8181H7218H2490H6779H834H1548
23Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: Our god has handed over our enemy Samson to us.H5633H6430H622H2076H1419H2077H1712H430H8057H559H430H5414H8123H341H3027
24When the people saw him, they praised their god and said: Our god has handed over to us our enemy who destroyed our land and who multiplied our dead.H5971H7200H1984H430H559H430H5414H3027H341H2717H776H2491H7235
25When they were drunk, they said, "Bring Samson here to entertain us." So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.H3820H2896H559H7121H8123H7832H7121H8123H631H1004H6440H6711H5975H5982
26Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, "Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them."H8123H559H5288H2388H3027H3240H4184H3237H5982H1004H3559H8172
27The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain [them].H1004H4390H582H802H5633H6430H1406H7969H505H376H802H7200H8123H7832
28He called out to the LORD: "Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes."H8123H7121H3068H559H136H3069H2142H2388H6471H430H259H5358H5359H6430H8147H5869
29Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left.H8123H3943H8147H8432H5982H1004H3559H5564H259H3225H259H8040
30Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And the dead he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.H8123H559H4191H5315H6430H5186H3581H1004H5307H5633H5971H4191H4191H4194H7227H4191H2416
31Then his brothers and his father's family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel 20 years.H251H1004H1H3381H5375H5927H6912H6881H847H6913H4495H1H8199H3478H6242H8141


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