Judges 15–16

15^*But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with ^aa kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. ²And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? ^†take her, I pray thee, instead of her. ³And Samson said concerning them, ^||Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. ⁴And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took ^||firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. ⁵And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both ^bthe shocks, and also ^bthe standing corn, with the vineyards and olives. ⁶Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and ^cburnt her and her father with fire. ⁷And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. ⁸And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in ^dthe top of the rock ^eEtam.

⁹Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and ^fspread themselves in ^gLehi. ¹⁰And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. ¹¹Then three thousand men of Judah ^†went to ^dthe top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are ^hrulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. ¹²And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. ¹³And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two ⁱnew cords, and brought him up from the rock. ¹⁴And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and ^jthe Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and ⁱthe cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands ^†loosed from off his hands. ¹⁵And he found a ^†new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and ^kslew a thousand men therewith. ¹⁶And Samson said,

With the jawbone of an ass, ^†heaps upon heaps,

With the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

¹⁷And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place ^||Ramath-lehi.

¹⁸And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? ¹⁹But God clave ^lan hollow place that was in ^||the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, ^mhis spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof ^||En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. ^20||And he judged Israel ⁿin the days of the Philistines twenty years.

16^*Then went Samson to ^aGaza, and saw there ^†an harlot, and went in unto her. ²And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they ^bcompassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were ^†quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. ³And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, ^†bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.

⁴And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman ^||in the valley of ^cSorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵And ^dthe lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, ^eEntice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to ^||afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. ⁶And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. ⁷And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven ^||green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as ^†another man. ⁸Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven ^||green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it ^†toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. ¹⁰And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. ¹¹And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with ^fnew ropes ^†that never were occupied, ^gthen shall I be weak, and be as another man. ¹²Delilah therefore took ^fnew ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. ¹³And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. ¹⁴And ^hshe fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. ¹⁵And she said unto him, ⁱHow canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. 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 more 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.