Judges 16–18

Samson at Gaza

16One day Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza, where he met a prostitute and went to bed with her. ²The people of Gaza found out that Samson was there, so they surrounded the place and waited for him all night long at the city gate. They were quiet all night, thinking to themselves, “We’ll wait until daybreak, and then we’ll kill him.” ³But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the city gate and pulled it up—doors, posts, lock, and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them all the way to the top of the hill overlooking Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

⁴After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Valley of Sorek. ⁵The five Philistine kings went to her and said, “Trick Samson into telling you why he is so strong and how we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong. If someone wanted to tie you up and make you helpless, how could he do it?”

⁷Samson answered, “If they tie me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I’ll be as weak as anybody else.”

⁸So the Philistine kings brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that were not dried out, and she tied Samson up. ⁹She had some men waiting in another room, so she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” But he snapped the bowstrings just as thread breaks when fire touches it. So they still did not know the secret of his strength.

¹⁰Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you’ve been making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Please tell me how someone could tie you up.”

¹¹He answered, “If they tie me with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll be as weak as anybody else.”

¹²So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. Then she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” The men were waiting in another room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread.

¹³Delilah said to Samson, “You’re still making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Tell me how someone could tie you up.”

He answered, “If you weave my seven locks of hair into a loom, and make it tight with a peg, I’ll be as weak as anybody else.”

¹⁴Delilah then lulled him to sleep, took his seven locks of hair, and wove them into the loom.ⁱ She made it tight with a peg and shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” But he woke up and pulled his hair loose from the loom.

¹⁵So she said to him, “How can you say you love me, when you don’t mean it? You’ve made a fool of me three times, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong.” ¹⁶She kept on asking him, day after day. He got so sick and tired of her nagging him about it ¹⁷that he finally told her the truth. “My hair has never been cut,” he said. “I have been dedicated to God as a nazirite^j from the time I was born. If my hair were cut, I would lose my strength and be as weak as anybody else.”

¹⁸When Delilah realized that he had told her the truth, she sent a message to the Philistine kings and said, “Come back just once more. He has told me the truth.” Then they came and brought the money with them. ¹⁹Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and then called a man, who cut off^k Samson’s seven locks of hair. Then she began to torment him, for he had lost his strength. ²⁰Then she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” He woke up and thought, “I’ll get loose and go free, as always.” He did not know that the Lord had left him. ²¹The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with bronze chains, and put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison. ²²But his hair started growing again.

The Death of Samson

²³The Philistine kings met together to celebrate and offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They sang, “Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!” ^24–25They were enjoying themselves, so they said, “Call Samson, and let’s make him entertain us!”^l When they brought Samson out of the prison, they made him entertain them^m and made him stand between the pillars. When the people saw him, they sang praise to their god: “Our god has given us victory over our enemy, who devastated our land and killed so many of us!” ²⁶Samson said to the boy who was leading him by the hand, “Let me touch the pillars that hold up the building. I want to lean on them.” ²⁷The building was crowded with men and women. All five Philistine kings were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof, watching Samson entertain them.ⁿ

²⁸Then Samson prayed, “Sovereign Lord, please remember me; please, God, give me my strength just once more, so that with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.” ²⁹So Samson took hold of the two middle pillars holding up the building. Putting one hand on each pillar, he pushed against them ³⁰and shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed with all his might, and the building fell down on the five kings and everyone else. Samson killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life.

³¹His brothers and the rest of his family came down to get his body. They took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had been Israel’s leader for twenty years.

Micah’s Idols

17There was once a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. ²He said to his mother, “When someone stole those eleven hundred pieces of silver from you, you put a curse on the thief. I heard you do it. Look, I have the money. I am the one who took it.”

His mother said, “May the Lord bless you, my son!” ³He gave the money back to his mother, and she said, “To stop the curse from falling on my son, I myself am solemnly dedicating the silver to the Lord. It will be used to make a wooden idol covered with silver. So now I will give the pieces of silver back to you.” ⁴Then he gave them back to his mother. She took 200 of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah’s house.

⁵This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod,^o and appointed one of his sons as his priest. ^6*There was no king in Israel at that time; all the people did just as they pleased.

⁷At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah. ⁸He left Bethlehem to find somewhere else to live. While he was travelling, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim. ⁹Micah asked him, “Where do you come from?”

He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for somewhere to live.”

¹⁰Micah said, “Stay with me. Be my adviser and priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, some clothes, and your food.”^{p 11}The young Levite agreed to stay with Micah and became like a son to him. ¹²Micah appointed him as his priest, and he lived in Micah’s home. ¹³Micah said, “Now that I have a Levite as my priest, I know that the Lord will make things go well for me.”

Micah and the Tribe of Dan

18There was no king in Israel at that time. In those days the tribe of Dan was looking for territory to claim and occupy because they had not yet received any land of their own among the tribes of Israel. ²So the people of Dan chose five qualified^q men out of all the families in the tribe and sent them from the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol with instructions to explore the land. When they arrived in the hill country of Ephraim, they stayed at Micah’s house. ³While they were there, they recognized the accent of the young Levite, so they went up to him and asked, “What are you doing here? Who brought you here?”

⁴He answered, “I have an arrangement with Micah, who pays me to serve as his priest.”

⁵They said to him, “Please ask God if we are going to be successful on our journey.”

⁶The priest answered, “You have nothing to worry about. The Lord is taking care of you on this journey.”

⁷So the five men left and went to the town of Laish. They saw how safely the people there were living, like the Sidonians. They were a peaceful, quiet people, with no disputes with anyone; they had all they needed.^r They lived far away from the Sidonians and had no dealings with any other people. ⁸When the five men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their countrymen asked them what they had found out. ⁹“Come on,” they replied. “Let’s attack Laish. We saw the land, and it’s very good. Don’t stay here doing nothing; hurry! Go on in and take it over! ¹⁰When you get there, you will find that the people don’t suspect a thing. It is a big country; it has everything a person could want, and God has given it to you.”

¹¹So 600 men from the tribe of Dan left Zorah and Eshtaol, ready for battle. ¹²They went up and made camp west of Kiriath Jearim in Judah. That is why the place is still called Camp of Dan. ¹³They went on from there and came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

¹⁴Then the five men who had gone to explore the country round Laish said to their companions, “Did you know that here in one of these houses there is a wooden idol covered with silver? There are also other idols and an ephod. What do you think we should do?” ¹⁵So they went into Micah’s house, where the young Levite lived, and asked the Levite how he was getting on. ¹⁶Meanwhile the 600 soldiers from Dan, ready for battle, were standing at the gate. ¹⁷The five spies went straight on into the house and took the wooden idol covered with silver, the other idols, and the ephod, while the priest stayed at the gate with the 600 armed men.

¹⁸When the men went into Micah’s house and took the sacred objects, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹They said, “Keep quiet. Don’t say a word. Come with us and be our priest and adviser. Wouldn’t you rather be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for the family of one man?” ²⁰This made the priest very…