Judges 16:16–31

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