1 When Samson went to Gaza, he saw a prostitute there and entered the place where she lived.
2 When the men of Gaza were notified that Samson had come, they made the rounds and lay in wait for him at the city gates. They kept quiet all night, thinking, “We will wait for him until dawn and then we will kill him.”
3 But Samson slept until midnight. At midnight, he arose and took hold of the door panels of the city gates together with the doorcase, and pulled them up with the bar. He put them upon his shoulders and carried them to the hilltop opposite Hebron.
Samson and Delilah
4 After this, Samson fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek; she was called Delilah.
5 The Philis tine chiefs said to this woman, “Charm him and find out where he gets such strength and how we can defeat and tie him up. Each of us shall give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
6 So Delilah asked Samson, “Tell me, please, where do you get such strength and how can others tie you up to sub due you?”
7 Samson answered her, “If they bind me with seven new and moist bowstrings, then I shall lose my strength and be as any other man.”
8 The Philistine chiefs sent seven new bowstrings that had not been dried to Delilah, and she tied Sam son with them.
9 With men hidden in her dwelling, she shouted, “Sam son, here come the Philistines!” Samson broke the bow strings as if they were burned flax. So they did not find out where his great strength came from.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You made a fool of me, and you lied to me. Tell me, how can they subdue you?”
11 Samson answered her, “If they bind me this time with seven newly-braided ropes which have never been used, then I shall lose my strength and be like any other man.”
12 So Delilah bound him with seven newly-braided ropes. But when she shouted, “Here come the Philistines!” he again snapped the ropes round his arms like thread.
13 So Delilah said to him, “How long will you de ceive me and lie to me? Tell me how they can subdue you.” He answered her, “If you braid the seven locks of my hair in the warp of the loom and tighten it with a pin, then I shall lose my strength.”
14 She lulled him to sleep, and then braided the seven locks of his hair in the warp of the loom and tightened it with a pin. Then she cried, “Here come the Philistines!” Samson woke up and pulled the warp with the locks of his hair. And so, Delilah did not find out where his great strength came from.
15 Then Delilah said to him, “You say that you love me, but your heart is not with me. Three times, you have deceived me and have not told me from whence your great strength comes.”
16 And as Delilah insisted and bothered him day after day with her questions, the time came when Samson felt he would die in disgust.
17 So he told her the truth: “Never has my hair been cut for I am a Nazirite, con secrated to God from the womb of my mother. If my hair is cut, then I shall lose my strength and be like any other man.”
18 Delilah understood that he had told her the truth this time, so she called the Philistine chiefs and said, “Come, because Samson has re vealed his secret to me.” They took the money and came to her.
19 Deli lah lulled Samson to sleep upon her knees and called a man to cut the seven locks of his hair. And she could immediately sub due him for his strength had left him.
20 When Delilah shouted “Sam son, the Philistines!” he awoke and thought that he could still save himself as on other occasions. But he did not know that Yahweh was no longer with him.
21 So the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him to Gaza. There they bound him with two bronze chains and made him turn the mill in the prison.
22 The hair on Sam son’s head, however, began to grow as soon as it was cut.
Death of Samson
23 The Philistine chiefs assem bled to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and had a great feast, saying, “Our god has given Sam son, our enemy, into our hands!”
24 As they were very happy, they said, “Bring out Samson that he may amuse us.” They brought him out of prison and he amused them. Then they had him placed between the columns
25 and on seeing him the people praised their god saying, “Our god has put our enemy into our hands, Samson who has destroyed our country and killed our men.”
26 Samson then said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Lead me where I can touch the pillars on which this house rests, so that I may lean on them.”
27 The house was full of men and women, all the Philistine chiefs were also there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson for amusement.
28 Samson called on Yahweh and ex claimed, “Lord, Yahweh, please re mem ber me and restore my strength only this once, so that I may avenge myself against the Philistines for my eyes.”
29 Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, leaned on them with his right arm on one pillar and his left on the other,
30 and cried out, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed with all his strength and the house fell upon the chiefs and the people gathered there. Those who joined him in his own death were more than those he had killed during his lifetime.
31 His brothers and the whole family of his father went down to get him. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel for twenty years.
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Comments Judges, Chapter 16
• 16.4 After presenting Samson as a “su per man” continually winning over the Philis tines, the story shows him conquered by a woman.
Samson reveals to Delilah his consecration to God, as a Nazirite. There is in him a part reserved for Yahweh which is the source of his supernatural strength.
Weakness of heroes. Samson entrusts himself, body and soul, to a woman who does not love him.
Elsewhere in the Bible we read: “It is good to keep to oneself the king’s secret,” and “Do not throw your pearls before swine lest they trample on them and stretch themselves over you.”