Judges 16:16–31

¹⁶And it came to pass, when she ^kpressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; ¹⁷That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, ^lThere hath not come a rasor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. ¹⁸And 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 hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought ^mmoney in their hand. ¹⁹And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to ⁿafflict him, and his strength went from him. ²⁰And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and ^oshake myself. And he wist not that ^pthe Lord was departed from him. ²¹But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and ^qbound him with fetters of brass; and ^rhe did grind in the prison house. ²²Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

²³Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto ^sDagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. ²⁴And when the people saw him, they ^tpraised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. ²⁵And it came to pass, when their hearts were ^umerry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. ²⁶And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. ²⁸And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, ^wremember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. ²⁹And Samson ^xtook hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. ³⁰And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were moe than they which he slew in his life. ³¹Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him ^ybetween Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And ^zhe judged Israel twenty years.

XVII.