Judges 16:1-17 ▼

1 And Samson went to Gaza and saw there a woman, a prostitute, and he went in to her.

2 To the Gazites it was said, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded and lay in wait for him all the night at the gate of the city, and they were quiet all the night, saying, “At the light of the morning, then we will kill him.”

3 And Samson lay down until the middle of the night. And he arose in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two gateposts, and he pulled them up along with the bar, and he put them on his shoulders, and he brought them up to the top of the hill that is at the face of Hebron.

4 And it came to pass after thus, that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him and find out in what is his great power, and by what we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we will give to you, each man, a thousand and a hundred shekels of silver.”

6 And Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, please, in what is your great power, and with what may you be bound to afflict you.”

7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I shall become weak and I will be as any man.”

8 And the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 And they were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” And he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks at its touching the fire. And his power was not known.

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

11 And he said to her, “If they securely bind me with new ropes that never were used in work, I shall become weak, and be like any man.”

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him with them, and she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” And they were lying in wait, staying in the room. And he broke them off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told to me lies. Tell me with what you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man..”

14 And while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. And she wove it tightly Then she tightened it with a pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” And he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom, and with it the web.

15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ and your heart is not with me? This is three times you have mocked me, and you have not told me in what is your great power.”

16 And it came to pass, when she had pressed him with her words all the days, and pleaded, and his soul was grieved to death,

17 that he told her all his heart and said to her, “A razor has not ever come upon my head. For I am a Nazirite to God from the womb of my mother. If I am shaven, my power will leave me, and I shall become weak and be as any man.”