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1 Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and he went to have sex with her that night. 2 The men of Gaza found out Samson was there, so they gathered to spend the night lying in wait for him at the town gates. They kept quiet all night, whispering to one another, “We'll kill him when it gets light.”
3 But Samson only stayed until halfway through the night. He grabbed hold of the town gates along with their two posts and ripped them up, along with the lock-bar. Putting them on his shoulders, he carried them to the hill opposite Hebron.*Gaza to Hebron is around 40 miles.
4 Later he fell in love with a woman named Delilah living in the Sorek Valley. 5 The Philistine leaders approached her, saying, “See if you can seduce him and get him to show you the secret of his incredible strength, and find out how we can overpower him and tie him up so he can't do anything. We'll all give you eleven hundred shekels of silver each.”
6 Delilah went and pleaded with Samson, “Please tell me where your incredible strength comes from, and what can be used to tie you up so you can't do anything.”
7 “If I'm tied up with seven supple bowstrings that haven't dried out, I'll become just as weak,” Samson told her.
8 The Philistine leaders brought her seven supple bowstrings that hadn't dried out, and she tied him up with them. 9 Having arranged for men to hide in her bedroom ready to attack him, she shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a thread snaps when a flame touches it. So nobody found out where his strength came from.
10 Later Delilah said to Samson, “You've made me look stupid, telling me these lies! So now please tell me what can be used to tie you up.”
11 “If I'm tied up tight with new ropes that haven't been used before, I'll become just as weak as anyone else,” he told her.
12 So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up with them. She shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!” As before, men were hiding in her bedroom. But again Samson snapped the ropes from his arms as if they were thin threads.
13 Delilah said to Samson, “You keep on making me look stupid, telling me these lies! Just tell me what can be used to tie you up!”
“If you were to weave the seven braids of my hair into the web on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as anyone else,” he told her. So while he was asleep, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, weaving them into the web, 14 and tightening the pin. She shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!” But Samson woke up and ripped out both the pin and the web from the loom.†The Hebrew of this and the following verse appears damaged. Septuagint reading used.
15 Then Delilah complained to Samson, “How can you tell me, ‘I love you,’ when you don't let me into your confidence?‡“Tell me your private thoughts”: literally, “your heart is not with me.” Three times you've made me look stupid, not telling me where your incredible strength comes from!”
16 She nagged and complained all the time, pestering him until he wanted to die. 17 Eventually Samson confided in her, sharing everything. “My hair has never been cut, because I've been dedicated as a Nazirite to God from my birth. If I'm shaved, my strength will leave me, and I'll become as weak as anyone else.”
18 Delilah realized that he had truly confided in her and shared everything, she sent a message to the Philistine leaders telling them, “Come back once more, because this time he's confided in me and told me everything.” So the Philistine leaders returned, bringing with them the money to give to her.
19 Delilah soothed him to sleep on her lap, and then called in someone to shave off the seven braids of hair. She started to torment him but he couldn't do anything for his strength left him. 20 She shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!”
Samson woke up and thought to himself, “I'll do like before and shake myself free.” But he didn't know that the Lord had left him.
21 The Philistines grabbed him and gouged out his eyes. Then they took him to Gaza where they imprisoned him in bronze chains. He was made to work grinding grain at the mill in the prison.
22 But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off.
23 The Philistine leaders gathered for a great religious festival to sacrifice to their god Dagon and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us!”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, and said, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who devastated our land and killed so many of us.”
25 As they began to get drunk, they shouted, “Summon Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison to entertain them, and made him stand between the two main pillars of the building.
26 Samson said to the servant boy who was leading him by the hand, “Leave me by the pillars on which the temple rests so I can feel them, and lean against them.” 27 The temple was full of people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and on the roof were the ordinary people watching what Samson was doing.
28 Samson called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me and give me strength. Please God, do this just once more, so that with one act I may pay the Philistines back in revenge for the loss of my two eyes.” 29 Samson reached for the two middle pillars that supported the temple. With his right hand leaning on one pillar and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!” and he pushed with all his strength. The temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. So those killed at his death were more than he killed in his life.
31 Then his brothers and his whole family came and took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He led Israel as judge for twenty years.

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*16:3 Gaza to Hebron is around 40 miles.

†16:14 The Hebrew of this and the following verse appears damaged. Septuagint reading used.

‡16:15 “Tell me your private thoughts”: literally, “your heart is not with me.”

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher