The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Judges 16
1 Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a
prostitute, and went in to her.
2 The Gazites were told, “Samson is
here!” They surrounded him and laid wait
for him all night in the gate of the city, and
were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until
morning light; then we will kill him.”
3 Samson lay until midnight, then arose
at midnight and took hold of the doors of
the gate of the city, with the two posts,
and plucked them up, bar and all, and put
themonhis shoulders and carried themup
to the top of the mountain that is before
Hebron.
4 It came to pass afterward that he loved
a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose
name was Delilah.
5 The lords of the Philistines came up to
her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in
which his great strength lies, and by what
means we may prevail against him, that
we may bind him to afflict him; and we
will each give you eleven hundred pieces
of silver.”
6 Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me
where your great strength lies, and what
you might be bound to afflict you.”
7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me
with seven green cords that were never
dried, then shall I become weak, and be as
another man.”
8 Then the lords of the Philistines
brought up to her seven green cords which
had not been dried, and she bound him
with them.
9 Now she had an ambush waiting in
the inner room. She said to him, “The
Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke
the cords as a flax thread is broken when
it touches the fire. So his strength was not
known.
10 Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you
have mocked me, and told me lies. Now
please tell me how you might be bound.”
11 He said to her, “If they only bind me
with new ropes with which no work has
been done, then shall I become weak, and
be as another man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound
him with them, then said to him, “The
Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He
broke them off his arms like a thread.
13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now,
you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell
me with what you might be bound.”
He said to her, “If you weave the seven
locks of my head with the fabric on the
loom.”
14 She fastened it withthe pin, and said to
him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!”
He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked
away the pin of the beam and the fabric.
15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I
love you,’ when your heart is not with me?
You have mocked me these three times,
and have not told me where your great
strength lies.”
16 When she pressed him daily with her
words and urged him, his soul was troubled to death.
17 He told her all his heart and said to
her, “No razor has ever come on my head;
for I have been a Nazirite to God from my
mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my
strength will go from me and I will become
weak, and be like any other man.”
18 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 has told me all his heart.”
Then the lords ofthe Philistines came up to
her and brought the money in their hand.
19 She made him sleep on her knees; and
she called for a man and shaved off the
seven locks of his head; and she began
to afflict him, and his strength went from
him.
20 She said, “The Philistines are upon
you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I
will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh
had departed from him.
21 The Philistines laid hold on him and
put out his eyes; and they brought him
down to Gaza and bound him with fetters
of bronze; and he ground at the mill in the
prison.
22 However, the hair of his head began to
grow again after he was shaved.
23 The lords of the Philistines gathered
together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon
their god, and to rejoice;for they said, “Our
god has delivered Samson our enemy into
our hand.”
24 When the people saw him, they
praised their god; for they said, “Our god
has delivered our enemy and the destroyer
of our country, who has slain many of us,
into our hand.”
25 When their hearts were merry, they
said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of
the prison; and he performed before them.
They set him between the pillars;
26 and Samson said to the boy who held
him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the
pillars on which the house rests, that I may
lean on them.”
27 Now the house was full of men and
women; and all the lords of the Philistines
were there; and there were on the roof
about three thousand men and women,
who saw while Samson performed.
28 Samson called to Yahweh, and said,
“Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and
strengthen me, please, only this once, God,
that I may be at once avenged of the
Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested and
leaned on them, the one with his right
hand and the other with his left.
30 Samson said, “Let me die with the
Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his
might; and the house fell on the lords, and
on all the people who were in it. So the
dead that he killed at his death were more
than those who he killed in his life.
31 Then his brothers 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 burial site
of Manoah his father. He judged Israel
twenty years.