Judges 16:16–31

¹⁶Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day and pestered him, he was tired to death. ¹⁷So he told her his whole secret and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak and be like anyone else.”^*

¹⁸When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. ¹⁹She let him fall asleep on her lap, and she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken,^l and his strength left him.^{* 20}Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^{* 21}So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he ground at the mill in the prison. ²²But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Samson’s Death

²³Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”^{* 24}When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”^{* 25}And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, and let him entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars,^{* 26}and Samson said to the attendant who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean against them.” ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women who looked on while Samson performed.^*

²⁸Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord God, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”^{m* 29}And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He strained with all his might, and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life. ³¹Then his kindred and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.^*