Judges 16:28 - Prayer Tents



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Judges 16
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Samson and Delilah

16Once Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to her.H3212H8123H5804H7200H802H2181H935 2The Gazites were told, "Samson has come here." So they circled around and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, thinking, "Let us wait until the light of the morning; then we will kill him."H5841H559H8123H935H5437H693H3915H8179H5892H2790H3915H559H1242H216H2026 3But Samson lay only until midnight. Then at midnight he rose up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.H8123H7901H2677H3915H6965H2677H3915H270H1817H8179H5892H8147H4201H5265H1280H7760H3802H5927H7218H2022H6440H2275 4After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.H310H157H802H5158H7796H8034H1807 5The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, "Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great, and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."H5633H6430H5927H559H6601H7200H1419H3581H3201H631H6031H5414H376H505H3967H3701 6So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you."H1807H559H8123H5046H1419H3581H631H6031 7Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried out, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else."H8123H559H631H7651H3892H3499H2717H2470H259H120 8Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not dried out, and she bound him with them.H5633H6430H5927H7651H3892H3499H2717H631 9While men were lying in wait in an inner chamber, she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the bowstrings, as a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.H693H3427H2315H559H6430H8123H5423H3499H6616H5296H5423H7306H784H3581H3045 10Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me and told me lies; please tell me how you could be bound."H1807H559H8123H2048H1696H3577H5046H631 11He said to her, "If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else."H559H631H631H2319H5688H4399H6213H2470H259H120 12So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" (The men lying in wait were in an inner chamber.) But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.H1807H3947H2319H5688H631H559H6430H8123H693H3427H2315H5423H2220H2339 13Then Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told me lies; tell me how you could be bound." He said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else."H1807H559H8123H2008H2048H1696H3577H5046H631H559H707H7651H4253H7218H4545 14So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web, and made them tight with the pin. Then she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.H8628H3489H559H6430H8123H3364H8142H5265H3489H708H4545 15Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great."H559H349H559H157H3820H2048H7969H6471H5046H1419H3581 16Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death.H6693H3117H1697H509H5315H7114H4191 17So he told her his whole secret, and said to her, "A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else."H5046H3820H559H5927H4177H7218H5139H430H517H990H1548H3581H5493H2470H120 18When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, "This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hands.H1807H7200H5046H3820H7971H7121H5633H6430H559H5927H6471H5046H3820H5633H6430H5927H5927H3701H3027 19She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken, and his strength left him.H3462H1290H7121H376H1548H7651H4253H7218H2490H6031H3581H5493 20Then she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, "I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.H559H6430H8123H3364H8142H559H3318H6471H5287H3045H3068H5493 21So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison.H6430H270H5365H5869H3381H5804H631H5178H2912H631H1004 22But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.H8181H7218H2490H6779H834H1548

Samson’s Death

23Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to rejoice; for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand."H5633H6430H622H2076H1419H2077H1712H430H8057H559H430H5414H8123H341H3027 24When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us."H5971H7200H1984H430H559H430H5414H3027H341H2717H776H2491H7235 25And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Call Samson, and let him entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars;H3820H2896H559H7121H8123H7832H7121H8123H631H1004H6440H6711H5975H5982 26and Samson said to the attendant who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean against them."H8123H559H5288H2388H3027H3240H4184H3237H5982H1004H3559H8172 27Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson performed.H1004H4390H582H802H5633H6430H1406H7969H505H376H802H7200H8123H7832 28Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "Lord GOD, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes."H8123H7121H3068H559H136H3069H2142H2388H6471H430H259H5358H5359H6430H8147H5869 29And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other.H8123H3943H8147H8432H5982H1004H3559H5564H259H3225H259H8040 30Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." He strained with all his might; and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life.H8123H559H4191H5315H6430H5186H3581H1004H5307H5633H5971H4191H4191H4194H7227H4191H2416 31Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.H251H1004H1H3381H5375H5927H6912H6881H847H6913H4495H1H8199H3478H6242H8141


New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. More details.
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