16:1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went
in to her.
16:2 [And it was told] the Gazites, saying, Samson is come
hither. And they encompassed [him], and laid wait for him all
night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night,
saying, In the morning when it is day we shall kill him.
16:3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and
took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and
went away with them, bar and all, and put [them] upon his
shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that [is]
before Hebron.
16:4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the
valley of Sorek, whose name [was] Delilah.
16:5 And the lords of the Philistines came to her, and said to
her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength [lieth],
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.
16:6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what
thy great strength [lieth], and with what thou mayest be bound
to afflict thee.
16:7 And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green
withs, that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as
another man.
16:8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought to her seven
green withs, which had not been dried, and she bound him with
them.
16:9 (Now [there were] men lying in wait, abiding with her in
the chamber.) And she said to him, The Philistines [are] upon
thee, Samson. And he broke the withs as a thread of tow is
broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not
known.
16:10 And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me,
and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou
mayest be bound.
16:11 And he said to her, If they bind me fast with new ropes
that never were used, then shall I be weak, and be as another
man.
16:12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him with them,
and said to him, The Philistines [are] upon thee, Samson. (And
[there were] liers in wait abiding in the chamber.) And he
broke them from off his arms like a thread.
16:13 And Delilah said to Samson, hitherto thou hast mocked me,
and told me lies: tell me with what thou mayest be bound. And
he said to her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with
the web.
16:14 And she fastened [it] with the pin, and said to him, The
Philistines [are] upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his
sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the
web.
16:15 And she said to him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when
thy heart [is] not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three
times, and hast not told me in what thy great strength [lieth].
16:16 And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her
words, and urged him, [so] that his soul was vexed to death;
16:17 That he told her all his heart, and said to her, There
hath not come a razor upon my head; for I [have been] a
Nazarite to God from my birth: if I be shaved, then my strength
will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any
[other] man.
16:18 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 hath disclosed to me all his heart.
Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought
money in their hand.
16:19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for
a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his
head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from
him.
16:20 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 before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD
had departed from him.
16:21 But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and
brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass;
and he did grind in the prison-house.
16:22 However the hair of his head began to grow again after he
was shaved.
16:23 Then the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a
great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they
said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.
16:24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for
they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and
the destroyer of our country; who slew many of us.
16:25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that
they said, Call for Samson that he may make us sport. And they
called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made them
sport: and they set him between the pillars.
16:26 And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand,
Suffer me that I may feel the pillars upon which the house
standeth, that I may lean upon them.
16:27 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, that beheld while Samson
made sport.
16:28 And Samson called to the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD,
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.
16:29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which
the house stood, and on which it was supported, of the one with
his right hand, and of the other with his left.
16:30 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
which he slew at his death were more than [they] which he slew
in his life.
16:31 Then his brethren 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.
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