The Book of Judges

And Samson went to Gaza, and saw a woman there, a harlot, and went in to her.

The Gazites [were told], saying, Samson has come here. And they encircled and set a trap for him all the night at the gate of the city, and kept quiet all night, saying, Until the light of the morning, then we will kill him.

And Samson lay down until the middle of the night, and rose up in the middle of the night. And [he] took hold on the leaves of the gate of the city, and on the two side posts, and plucked them up with the bar, and put [them] on his shoulders and took them up to the top of the mountain that [is] before Hebron.

And it happened afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, and her name [was] Delilah.

And the Philistine rulers came to her and said to her, Entice him, and see in what [lies] his great strength, and by what we may prevail against him, so that we may bind him, to afflict him. And we will surely each give to you eleven hundred [of] silver.

And Delilah said to Samson, Now tell me in what your great strength [lies], and with what you may be bound in order to afflict you.

And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green bowstrings which have not been dried, then I shall be weak and shall be as any man.

And Philistine rulers brought to her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

And the ambush [was] sitting for her in an inner room. And she said to him, The Philistines [are] upon you, Samson! And he broke the bowstrings like a thread of tow when it smells fire. And his strength was not known.

And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have trifled with me, and have told me lies. Now, please tell me with what you may be bound.

And he said to her, If they really bind me with new ropes, by which no work has been done, then I shall be weak and shall be as any human being.

And Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, Samson, the Philistines [are] upon you! And the ambush [was] sitting in the inner room. And he tore them off his arms like thread.

And Delilah said to Samson, Until now you have trifled with me, and have told me lies. Tell me with what you may he bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven braids of my head with a web.

And she fastened [it] with a pin, and said to him, Samson, the Philistines are upon you! And he awoke out of his sleep and pulled out the pin, the hand-loom, and the web.

And she said to him, How can you say, I love you, and your heart [is] not with me. These three times you have trifled with me, and have not told me where your great strength [lies].

that he told her all his heart, and said to her, No razor has come on my head, for I [am] a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I were shaved, my strength would go away from me, and I would be weak, and be like any one of men.

And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart. And she sent and called for the Philistine rulers, saying, Come, for this time he has told me all his heart. And the Philistine rulers came up to her, and brought the silver in their hand.

And she made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man, and had him shave seven braids of his head, and began to afflict him. And his strength departed from him.

And she said, Samson, the Philistines [are] upon you! And He awakened from his sleep, and said, I will go out and shake myself free as time after time. But he did not know that Jehovah had departed from him.

And the Philistines seized him, and bored out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. And they bound him with bands of bronze. And he was grinding in the house of prisoners.

But the hair of his head began to grow, for he had been shaved.

And the Philistine rulers gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to exult. And they said, Our god has given our enemy Samson into our hand.

And the people saw him, and praised their god. For they said, Our god has delivered our enemy into our hand, even the devastator of our land, who multiplied our wounded.

And it happened when their heart felt good, they said, Call for Samson, and he shall entertain us. And they called for Samson from the prison house. And he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.

And Samson said to the young man grasping his hand, Let me alone, and let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them.

And the house was full of men and women, and all the Philistine rulers [were] there. And about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertaining.

And Samson called to Jehovah, and said, O Lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray, and please make me strong only his time, O God. And I shall be avenged with one vengeance on the Philistines, because of my two eyes.

And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and on which it was supported; one with his right [hand], and one with his left.

And Samson said, Let my soul die with the Philistines! And he bowed mightily, and the house fell on the rulers, and on all the people who were in it. And the dead that he killed in his death were more than those the killed in his life.

And his brothers and all his father's house came down and lifted him up and brought [him] up. And they buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying place of his father Manoah. And he judged Israel twenty years.