Judges 16
Samson is betrayed by Delilah
1 And Samson went to Gaza, and saw a prostitute there, and came in to her.
2 And it was said to the Gazites, Samson came in here. So they went round and round, and all night they spied on him at the city gate: but all night they were quiet, saying, Until the morning light we will wait, then we will kill him.
3 But Samson lay down until midnight, and at midnight he got up, and locked the doorways of the city with both jambs, and took them with the lock, putting them on his shoulders; and he lifted them upward to the top of the mountain that faces Hebron.
4 And after this it happened that he became attached to a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
5 Then the princes of the Philistines went up to her and said to her, "Persuade him, and see, what his great strength is, and with which we could seize him and bind him, so that we may grieve him: and we will give you one thousand and one hundred silver coins each.
6 Then Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, I ask you, what your great strength consists of, and what could you be tied up to be able to afflict you."
7 Samson said to him, If they tied me up with seven fresh wicker rods that were not yet dry, then I would weaken, and I would be like any other man.
8 Then the princes of the Philistines brought him seven rods of fresh wicker, which were not yet dry: and he bound them with them.
9 And the spies were sitting with her in a chamber. Then she said to him, The Philistines come upon you, Samson. Then he broke the wicker lintels, as though the thread of the tow is broken by the smell of fire; so it was known what his strength consisted of.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "Look! You have mocked me and told me lies. now declare to me now with what you could be tied.
11 And he said to him, If they tied me tightly with new cords, with which if I had not done any work, then I would weaken myself, and be like any man.
12 Then Delilah took new cords, and tied him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are coming over you, Samson. And the spies were sitting in a chamber. Then he broke them from his arms like a thread.
13 And Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me so far, and told me lies: tell me now, what could you be tied up with?" And he said to him, If you weave seven braids of the hairs of my head with the threads of the web.
14 And she fixed them with a stake, and said to him, The Philistines come on you, Samson. Then he woke up from his sleep, and pulled the stake out of the woven braids, along with the webbing.
15 Then she said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? you have mocked me three times, and you have not yet declared what your strength is.
16 And it came to pass, that she harassed him every day with his words, and harassed him, her soul was distressed to death.
17 And he discovered all his heart, and said to him, Never did a razor come to my head, because I am a narizh of God from my mother's womb: if I were to be shaved, my strength would go away from me. , and would weaken me, and be like all other men.
18 And when Delilah saw that he had discovered all his heart, he sent and called the Philistine princes, saying, Go up this time, because now he has discovered all your heart. And the Philistine princes went up to her, and brought the money in her hand.
19 Then she made him sleep on her knees, and called him a man, and shaved the seven strands of hair from his head: and he began to afflict him, and his strength withdrew from him.
20 And she said, The Philistines come upon you, Samson. And he awoke from his sleep, and said, I will go out this time as before, and I will be freed. Because he did not know that the Lord had already withdrawn from him.
21 Then the Philistines took him, and gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with two bronze chains, and he was grinding in prison.
22 And the hair on his head began to grow on him, as when he was shaved.