Judges 16–18

Samson and Delilah

16One day Samson^j went to Gaza,^k where he saw a prostitute.^l He went in to spend the night with her. ²The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate.^m They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawnⁿ we’ll kill him.”

³But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.^o

⁴Some time later, he fell in love^p with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.^{q 5}The rulers of the Philistines^r went to her and said, “See if you can lure^s him into showing you the secret of his great strength^t and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels^a of silver.”^u

⁶So Delilah^v said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

⁷Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

⁸Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. ⁹With men hidden in the room,^w she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^x But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me;^y you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”

¹¹He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes^z that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

¹²So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^a But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

¹³Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”

He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric ¹⁴and^b tightened it with the pin.

Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^b He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

¹⁵Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’^c when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time^d you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.^e” ¹⁶With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

¹⁷So he told her everything.^f “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite^g dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines^h, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.^{i 19}After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.^c And his strength left him.^j

²⁰Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^k

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^l

²¹Then the Philistines^m seized him, gouged out his eyesⁿ and took him down to Gaza.^o Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain^p in the prison. ²²But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

²³Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon^q their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”

²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god,^r saying,

“Our god has delivered our enemy

into our hands,^s

the one who laid waste our land

and multiplied our slain.”

²⁵While they were in high spirits,^t they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

When they stood him among the pillars, ²⁶Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” ²⁷Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof^u were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. ²⁸Then Samson prayed to the Lord,^v “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge^w on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, ³⁰Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

³¹Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah^x his father. He had led^dy Israel twenty years.^z

Micah’s Idols

17Now a man named Micah^a from the hill country of Ephraim ²said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels^a of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have that silver with me; I took it.”

Then his mother said, “The Lord bless you,^b my son!”

³When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make an image overlaid with silver.^c I will give it back to you.”

⁴So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels^b of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol.^d And it was put in Micah’s house.

⁵Now this man Micah had a shrine,^e and he made an ephod^f and some household gods^g and installed^h one of his sons as his priest.^{i 6}In those days Israel had no king;^j everyone did as they saw fit.^k

⁷A young Levite^l from Bethlehem in Judah,^m who had been living within the clan of Judah, ⁸left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way^c he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

⁹Micah asked him, “Where are you from?”

“I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,ⁿ” he said, “and I’m looking for a place to stay.”

¹⁰Then Micah said to him, “Live with me and be my father^o and priest,^p and I’ll give you ten shekels^d of silver a year, your clothes and your food.” ¹¹So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man became like one of his sons to him. ¹²Then Micah installed^q the Levite, and the young man became his priest^r and lived in his house. ¹³And Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”^s

The Danites Settle in Laish

18In those days Israel had no king.^t

And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.^{u 2}So the Danites^v sent five of their leading men^w from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out^x the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, “Go, explore the land.”^y

So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah,^z where they spent the night. ³When they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite;^a so they turned in there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”

⁴He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, “He has hired me and I am his priest.^b”

⁵Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God^c to learn whether our journey will be successful.”

⁶The priest answered them, “Go in peace^d. Your journey has the Lord’s approval.”

⁷So the five men^e left and came to Laish,^f where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure.^g And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous.^a Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians^h and had no relationship with anyone else.^b

⁸When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them, “How did you find things?”

⁹They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over.^{i 10}When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing^j whatever.^k”

¹¹Then six hundred men^l of the Danites,^m armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. ¹²On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearimⁿ in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan^co to this day. ¹³From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.^p

¹⁴Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish^q said to their fellow Danites, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod,^r some household gods and an image overlaid with silver?^s Now you know what to do.” ¹⁵So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s place and greeted him. ¹⁶The six hundred Danites,^t armed for battle, stood at the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods^u while the priest and the six hundred armed men^v stood at the entrance of the gate.

¹⁸When the five men went into Micah’s house and took^w the idol, the ephod…