Judges 16 · שופטים

Then Shimshon went to ῾Azza, and saw there a harlot, and went in to her.

And it was told the ῾Azzatim, saying, Shimshon has come here. And they surrounded 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.

And Shimshon 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 the hill that is before Ḥevron.

And it came to pass afterwards, that he loved a woman in the wadi of Soreq, whose name was Delila.

And the lords of the Pelishtim came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him and torture him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

And Delila said to Shimshon, Tell me, I pray thee, in what thy great strength lies, and with what thou mightest be bound and tortured.

And Shimshon said to her, If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Then the lords of the Pelishtim brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said to him, The Pelishtim are upon thee, Shimshon. And he broke the bowstrings, as a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

And Delila said to Shimshon, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou mightest be bound.

And he said to her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that have never been used for work, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Delila therefore took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Pelishtim are upon thee, Shimshon. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like string.

And Delila said to Shimshon, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with what thou mightest be bound. And he said to her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web of the loom.

And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Pelishtim are upon thee, Shimshon. And he awoke out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the loom, and with the web.

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 lies.

And it came to pass, when she harassed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that he was sick to death;

that he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon my head; for I have been a Nazir to God from my mother’s womb: if I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

And when Delila saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Pelishtim, saying, Come up this once, for he has shown me all his heart. Then the lords of the Pelishtim came up to her, and brought money in their hand.

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 torment him, and his strength went from him.

And she said, The Pelishtim are upon thee, Shimshon. 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 was departed from him.

But the Pelishtim took him, and bored out his eyes, and brought him down to ῾Azza, and bound him with fetters of brass, and he ground at the mill in the prison house.

But the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

Then the lords of the Pelishtim gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god has delivered Shimshon our enemy into our hand.

And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, and one who slew many of us.

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Shimshon, that he may make sport for us. And they called for Shimshon out of the prison house; and he made sport for them: and they set him between the pillars.

And Shimshon said to the lad that held him by the hand, Leave me alone, and let me feel the pillars on which the house is fixed, that I may lean upon them.

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Pelishtim were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Shimshon made sport.

And Shimshon 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 avenged on the Pelishtim for one of my two eyes.

And Shimshon took hold of the two central pillars upon which the house stood, and he supported himself on them, on the one with his right hand, and on the other with his left.

And Shimshon said, Let me die with the Pelishtim. And he bowed with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead whom he slew at his death were more than those whom he slew in his life.

Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Żor῾a and Eshta᾽ol in the buryingplace of Manoaĥ his father. And he judged Yisra᾽el for twenty years.