And Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there and went into her.
The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded the house and waited in ambush for him all night in the gate of the city and were quiet all night, saying, “Wait until morning light, then we will kill him.”
Samson lay until the middle of the night then arose in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
And after this he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.
So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him and see where his great strength lies and how we can overpower him so that we can bind him to subdue him, and we will each give you 1,100 shekels of silver.”
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies and how you can be bound to subdue you.”
And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have never been dried, then I will become weak and be as any other man.”
Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings just as a string of flax is broken when it smells fire. So his strength was not known.
Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me how you can be bound.”
He said to her, “If they bind, yes, bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I will become weak and be as any other man.”
So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in an inner room, but he broke them off his arms like a thread.
Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web on the loom.”
She fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” But he awakened out of his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.
And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
And it came to pass when she pressed him hard with her words daily, and pressured him, that his soul was exasperated to death.
And he told her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever 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 go from me and I will become weak and be like all other men.”
When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the silver in their hand.
And she caused him to sleep on her knees, and she called for a man and he shaved off the seven braids of his head, and she began to humiliate him, and his strength left him.
And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke out of his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that Yahweh had left him.
Then the Philistines grabbed him and gouged out his eyes, and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he had to grind grain in the prison.
But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
The Death of Samson
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”
And when the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, “Our god has given into our hand our enemy and the destroyer of our land, who has slain many of us.”
And it came to pass when their hearts were merry that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson out of the prison and he provided amusement for them. And they stood him between the pillars,
And Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Let me rest, and let me feel the pillars that support the house, that I may lean on them.”
Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about 3,000 men and women who were watching while Samson provided entertainment.
And Samson called to Yahweh and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be avenged with one act of vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
Then Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house was supported and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left.
And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed out with strength, and the house fell on the lords and on all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.
Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father. And he had judged Israel 20 years.