Word soon spread that Samson was in town, so the men of Gaza gathered and hid at the town gates, cutting off his escape. They made no move during the night, saying, “We’ll kill him at dawn when he tries to leave.”
But in the middle of the night, Samson got up and left. On his way out of Gaza, he took hold of the doors of the town gate and ripped them off their hinges—two posts, the gates, and the locking bar. He hoisted them all on his shoulders and carried them off a great distance to the top of the hill across from Hebron.
Some time later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah from the Sorek Valley. The rulers of the Philistines went to her with a plan: “Trick Samson into telling you the secret of his great strength. Find out how we can subdue him. We’ll tie him up and make him helpless. Then each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
So Delilah approached Samson and asked, “Please dear, won’t you tell me the secret of your strength and how you could be tied up and made helpless?”
Samson replied, “If someone bound me with seven new bowstrings that haven’t been dried, I’ll become as weak as an ordinary man.”
So the Philistine tyrants brought Delilah seven new bowstrings, and she tied Samson up with them. With men waiting in ambush in one of the inner rooms of her house, she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines are here to capture you!” But Samson snapped the bowstrings like a piece of string snaps when it is burned by a fire. So no one discovered the secret of his strength.
Afterward, Delilah said to him, “You’ve made fun of me and told me lies! Please tell me how you can be tied up securely.”
Samson replied, “If someone bound me with brand-new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as anyone else.”
So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them, and the men were waiting in ambush in the inner room as before. Delilah cried out, “Samson! The Philistines are here to capture you!” Once again, Samson easily snapped the ropes from his arms like they were threads.
Delilah reprimanded him, saying, “You’ve made a fool of me and lied to me again! Now tell me the truth—how can you be tied up?”
Samson replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on your loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as anyone else.”
So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric and pinned it with a peg. Again she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines are here to capture you!” But Samson woke up and yanked his hair from both the loom and the fabric.
“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” pouted Delilah, “and yet you don’t tell me your secrets? You’ve tricked me three times now, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong!” She tormented him day after day until he was sick to death of her nagging.
Finally, he confessed to her everything: “I’ve never had my hair cut, because my parents dedicated me to God from birth. If anyone cuts my hair, my power will leave me, and I’ll become as weak as anyone else.”
When Delilah realized he had finally disclosed his secret, she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come quickly!” she said. “He’s finally told me his secret!” So the Philistine rulers returned with the bribe money in their hands.
Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap. Then she called in a barber to cut off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she weakened him, and his strength drained from him.
Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”
He woke up and thought, “I’ll do the same as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize that YAHWEH had turned away from him.
So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza, where they bound him with bronze chains and forced him to grind grain in the prison. But before long, his hair began to grow back.
One day, the Philistine tyrants celebrated a great festival to offer extravagant sacrifices to their god, Dagon. They praised Dagon, saying,
“Our god has given us victory!
Dagon has subdued our strong enemy Samson!”
When the people saw their idol, they too joined in the praises, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy to us!
The one who devastated our country
and piled our corpses high!”
By now, the people were getting drunk and demanded, “Bring out Samson and let him dance for us!” So he was brought from the prison to amuse them, and they displayed him between the main pillars that supported their temple.
Blind Samson said to the young servant who was leading him by the hand, “Let go of me and let me feel the pillars that hold up the temple. I want to lean against them.” The temple was completely packed with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and there were some three thousand men and women in the balcony watching as Samson provided them some amusement.
Then Samson prayed to YAHWEH, “Lord YAHWEH, please remember me again. O God, impart your strength to me just one more time. With one blow let me take revenge on the Philistines for gouging out my eyes.” Then Samson reached toward the two center pillars that held up the temple, his left hand on one and his right hand on the other, and he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then with all his might, with both hands he pushed against the pillars, and the temple came crashing down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So Samson killed more enemies through his death than in his entire lifetime.
Then his brothers and entire family went down to Gaza to get his body. They brought him back home and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, next to his father, Manoah. Samson had led Israel for twenty years.
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