UST JDG Chapter 16

◄ JDG 16 ► ║ ═ ©

16 Samson later went to the city of Gaza. He saw a prostitute there, and he had sexual relations with her and then stayed in her room. 2 People told the leaders of the Gazites, “Samson has come inside our city!” So the leaders sent men to surround the place where Samson was. They waited there secretly all night. The leaders also put guards at the city gate. But they did not try to capture Samson that night. They decided that once day came, they would be able to see clearly to catch him and kill him. 3 But Samson did not stay where he was all night. At midnight, he got up. He went to the city gate to leave the city, but he found that it was barred shut So he lifted the entire gate up out of the ground, the doors and their posts and the bar. He carried all of this on his shoulders uphill for many miles, all the way to the top of the hill near the town of Hebron. 4 Later Samson fell in love with a woman who lived in the Valley of Sorek. Her name was Delilah. 5 The Philistine leaders came to her and said, “See if you can get Samson to tell you what makes him so strong. See if you can find out how we can capture him and tie him up so that he cannot get away. If you do that, each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah told Samson, “I want you to explain to me what makes you so strong. Tell me how anyone could ever tie you up to capture you.” 7 Samson replied, “If someone ties me with seven new bowstrings, ones that are not dry yet, I will have only the strength of an ordinary person.” 8 So Delilah told this to the Philistine leaders, and they brought her seven new bowstrings. When Samson fell asleep, she used them to tie him up. 9 Some men were hiding in one of the other rooms in her house to capture Samson when they were sure that the bowstrings would restrain him. Delilah called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come here to capture you!” But Samson woke up and snapped the bowstrings as easily as fire burns through string. So the Philistines did not find out what made Samson so strong. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Now listen, you made up a story to trick me! Now tell me how someone can really tie you up securely.” 11 Samson replied, “If someone actually ties me up with new ropes, ones that no one has used for anything else, then I will have only the strength of an ordinary person.” 12 So Delilah once again told the Philistine leaders what Samson had said. She got some new ropes, and she had men hide in one of the rooms in her house. When Samson fell asleep, she tied him up with the ropes. Then she called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson woke up and snapped the ropes off his arms as easily as if they had been threads. 13 Then Delilah told Samson, “You made up another story to trick me! Now tell me how someone can really tie you up securely.” Samson replied, “You have a loom here with threads going in one direction. If you weave the seven braids of my hair into those threads in the other direction, as if you were making fabric, then I will have only the strength of an ordinary person.” 14 So Delilah once again told the Philistine leaders what Samson had said, and she had men hide in one of the rooms in her house. Then she used a shuttle to weave the seven braids of Samson’s hair in and out of the threads she had on her loom. Then she called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When Samson woke up, his hair was still in the shuttle. But he pulled it right out of the threads on the loom. 15 After this, Delilah said to him, “You say that you love me, but I do not believe that you do, because you have not told me the truth about yourself. You have tricked me three times and you have not really told me what makes you so strong!” 16 Day after day she nagged him relentlessly to tell her his secret. He felt as if he was going to die from her nagging. 17 So finally Samson told her the whole truth. He told her, “My parents dedicated me to God as a Nazirite on the day I was born. Because of that, no one has ever cut my hair. If someone did shave the hair off my head, then I would lose my great strength. I would have only the strength of an ordinary person.” 18 Delilah realized that this time he had told her the whole truth. So she sent someone to get the Philistine leaders. She told them, “Come back one more time, because Samson has finally told me the secret of his strength.” So the Philistine leaders came back to her house and brought the money they had promised to give her. 19 Then she had sexual relations with Samson so that he would fall soundly asleep afterwards. Then she called one of the Philistine men to come and cut off Samson’s hair. This would enable the Philistines to capture him, because he would lose his great strength. 20 Then called out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”

He woke up and thought, “I will be able to do whatever I need to do to get away from them, just as I did the other times!`” But he did not realize that Yahweh was no longer helping him. 21 Instead, the Philistine men captured him. They blinded him by gouging out both of his eyes so that he could no longer attack any of them. Then they took him to Gaza. They put him in prison there and put bronze chains on him so he could not escape. They made him turn a large millstone to grind grain every day. 22 But his hair started to grow again after the man had cut it. 23 Then the Philistine leaders had a big celebration. They offered many sacrifices to their god Dagon. They praised him, saying, “Our god has enabled us to capture Samson, who did so many things to harm us!” 24 When the other people at the festival saw Samson, they also praised their god Dagon, saying, “Samson harmed us greatly. He killed many of our soldiers and ruined many of our crops, but our god Dagon has enabled us to capture him!” 25 The people drank a lot of wine and began to become drunk. They shouted, “Get Samson out of the prison! Bring him here so we can ridicule him!”

So they brought Samson from the prison and made him stand in the center of the temple, between the pillars that supported the roof. The people ridiculed him. 26 Samson said to the servant who was leading him by the hand because he was blind, “I want to rest. Place my hands against the two pillars that support the roof so that I can lean against them.” 27 All the Philistine leaders were in the temple, along with a great crowd of men and women. There were about 3, 000 people on the roof, looking at Samson and ridiculing him. 28 Samson prayed to Yahweh and said, “Yahweh my lord, please think about me again! Please, God, give me strength just once more so that I can take revenge on the Philistines for gouging out my eyes!” 29 Then Samson put his right hand on one of the central pillars of the temple, and he put his left hand on the other one. He pushed hard against both pillars. 30 Then Samson shouted, “I am going to kill all these Philistines, even though I have to die myself!” He pushed on the pillars as hard as he could, and he broke them and the temple collapsed. This killed the Philistine leaders and all the other people who were in the temple. So Samson killed more people when he died than he had killed while he was alive. 31 Later his brothers and other relatives traveled from Zorah to Gaza to get his body. They took it back home and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, at the place where people had previously buried his father Manoah. Samson had led Israel for 20 years.

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