Judges 16:16–31

¹⁶She kept bothering Samson about his secret day after day until he felt he was going to die!

¹⁷So he told her everything. He said, “I have never had my hair cut, because I have been set apart to God as a Nazirite since I was born. If someone shaved my head, I would lose my strength and be as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸When Delilah saw that he had told her everything sincerely, she sent a message to the Philistine rulers. She said, “Come back one more time, because he has told me everything.” So the Philistine rulers came back to Delilah and brought the silver with them. ¹⁹Delilah got Samson to sleep, lying in her lap. Then she called in a man to shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. In this way she began to make him weak, and his strength left him.

²⁰Then she said, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”

He woke up and thought, “I’ll leave as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

²¹Then the Philistines captured Samson and tore out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza, where they put bronze chains on him and made him grind grain in the prison. ²²But his hair began to grow again.

Samson Dies

²³The Philistine rulers gathered to celebrate and to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said, “Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us.” ²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,

“This man destroyed our country.

He killed many of us!

But our god handed over

our enemy to us.”

²⁵While the people were enjoying the celebration, they said, “Bring Samson out to perform for us.” So they brought Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶Samson said to the servant holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars that hold up the temple so I can lean against them.” ²⁷Now the temple was full of men and women. All the Philistine rulers were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof ⁿ watching Samson perform. ²⁸Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Lord God, remember me. God, please give me strength one more time so I can pay these Philistines back for putting out my two eyes!” ²⁹Then Samson turned to the two center pillars that supported the whole temple. He braced himself between the two pillars, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰Samson said, “Let me die with these Philistines!” Then he pushed as hard as he could, causing the temple to fall on the rulers and all the people in it. So Samson killed more of the Philistines when he died than when he was alive.

³¹Samson’s brothers and his whole family went down to get his body. They brought him back and buried him in the tomb of Manoah, his father, between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson was a judge for the people of Israel for twenty years.