| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2When it was told to the Gazites, saying, "Samson has come here," they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, "Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him." |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, "Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver." |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you." |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man." |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Now she had men lying in wait in an inner room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the cords as a string of tow snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was not discovered. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Then Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me how you may be bound." |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11He said to her, "If they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man." |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" For the men were lying in wait in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Then Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me how you may be bound." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my hair with the web and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man." |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the web. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is." |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, "A razor has never 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 leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man." |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands." |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hands, Even the destroyer of our country, Who has slain many of us." |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25It so happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may amuse us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them." |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes." |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life. |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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