Judges 16–18

Chapter 16

¹And Samson went to Gazah, and saw there a harlot, and went in to her. ²And it was told the Gazathites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they surrounded him, and laid wait for him all night at the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning light we will kill him. ³And Samson lay till midnight; and he arose at midnight, and seized the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and tore them up with the bar, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

⁴And it came to pass afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Persuade him, and see in what his great strength is, and with what we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to overpower him; and we will each give thee eleven hundred silver-pieces. ⁶Then Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what is thy great strength, and with what thou mightest be bound to overpower thee. ⁷And Samson said to her, If they should bind me with seven fresh cords which have not been dried, then should I be weak, and be as another man. ⁸Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹Now she had liers in wait abiding in the chamber; and she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson! And he broke the cords, as a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire; and his strength was not known. ¹⁰And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou mightest be bound. ¹¹And he said to her, If they should bind me fast with new ropes, with which no work has been done, then should I be weak, and be as another man. ¹²And Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson! Now there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread. ¹³And Delilah said to Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what thou mightest be bound. And he said to her, If thou shouldest weave the seven locks of my head with the web. ¹⁴And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson! And he awoke out of his sleep, and tore out the pin of the beam, and the web. ¹⁵Then she said to him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? these three times hast thou mocked me, and hast not told me in what is thy great strength. ¹⁶And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was vexed unto death; ¹⁷and he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon my head; for I am a Nazarite of God from my mother’s womb; if I should be shaven, then my strength would go from me, and I should be weak, and be like all mankind.

¹⁸And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this time, for he has told me all his heart. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹And she made him sleep upon her knees, and called a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to overpower him, and his strength went from him. ²⁰And she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson! And he awoke out of his sleep, and thought, I will go out as at other times before, and disengage myself. And he knew not that Jehovah had departed from him. ²¹And the Philistines seized him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gazah, and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he had to grind in the prison-house.

²²But the hair of his head began to grow after he was shaved. ²³Then 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 hands. ²⁴And when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, Our god has given into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, even him who multiplied our slain. ²⁵And it came to pass when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house, and he played before them; and they set him between the pillars. ²⁶And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Let loose of me, and suffer me to feel the pillars upon which the house stands, 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 upon the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson made sport. ²⁸And Samson called to Jehovah, and said, Lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may take one vengeance upon the Philistines for my two eyes. ²⁹And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood (and he supported himself upon them), the one with his right hand and the other with his left. ³⁰And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines! And he bowed himself with might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people that were therein. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than those whom he had slain in his life. ³¹And his brethren came down, and all the house of his father, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zoreah and Eshtaol in the sepulchre of Manoah his father. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

Chapter 17

¹And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. ²And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred silver-pieces that were taken from thee, and about which thou didst curse and speak of in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Jehovah! ³And he restored the eleven hundred silver-pieces to his mother; and his mother said, I had dedicated the silver to Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image; and now I will restore it to thee. ⁴Now he restored the silver to his mother; and his mother took two hundred silver-pieces and gave them to the founder, and he made of them a graven image and a molten image; and they were in the house of Micah. ⁵And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-Judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. ⁸And the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem-Judah, to sojourn where he might find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah. ⁹And Micah said to him, Whence comest thou? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. ¹⁰And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give thee yearly ten silver-pieces, and a suit of garments, and thy victuals. And the Levite went in. ¹¹And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. ¹²And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³Then said Micah, Now I know that Jehovah will do me good, because I have the Levite for priest.

Chapter 18

¹In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day their lot had not fallen to them for inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ²And the children of Dan sent of their family five men of their whole number, men of valour, from Zoreah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to examine it; and they said to them, Go, examine the land. And they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned in thither, and said to him, Who brought thee hither? and what doest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? ⁴And he said to them, Thus and thus has Micah done to me; and he has hired me, and I am his priest. ⁵And they said to him, Inquire, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way on which we go shall be prosperous. ⁶And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before Jehovah is your way on which ye go.

⁷And the five men departed, and came to Laish; and they saw the people that were therein, dwelling securely, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and no one was in the land who possessed authority, that might put them to shame in anything; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had nothing to do with any man. ⁸—And they came to their brethren at Zoreah and Eshtaol. And their brethren said to them, What say ye? ⁹And they said, Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good; and ye are still! Be not slothful to go, to enter to take possession of the land. ¹⁰When ye go in, ye shall come to a people secure, and the land is spacious in every direction; for God has given it into your hands; it is a place where there is no want of anything that is on the earth. ¹¹And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zoreah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men girded with weapons of war. ¹²And they went up and encamped in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah; therefore they call that place Mahaneh-Dan to this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim. ¹³And they passed thence to mount Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴Then the five men that had gone to spy out the country of Laish spoke and said to their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an…