Samson in the Bible
Meaning: his sun; his service; there the second time
Exact Match
Manoah's wife gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the Lord empowered him.
Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye.
But his father and mother said to him, "Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines." But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she is the right one for me."
But Samson retorted to his father, "Get her for me, since she looks fine to me." Meanwhile, his father and mother did not know that she was from the LORD, because he had been seeking a favorable opportunity concerning the Philistines, since the Philistines were dominating Israel at that time.
Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him.
Samson continued on down to Timnah and spoke to the girl. In his opinion, she was just the right one.
Then Samson's father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage. Samson hosted a party there, for this was customary for bridegrooms to do.
Samson said to them, "I will give you a riddle. If you really can solve it during the seven days the party lasts, I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.
On the fourth day they said to Samson's bride, "Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. If you refuse, we will burn up you and your father's family. Did you invite us here to make us poor?"
So Samson's bride cried on his shoulder and said, "You must hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men a riddle, but you have not told me the solution." He said to her, "Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?"
However Samson’s wife wept before him seven days while their [wedding] feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. Then she told the [answer to the] riddle to her countrymen.
So the men of the city said to Samson on the seventh day before sundown,
What is stronger than a lion?”
And he said to them,
You would not have solved my riddle.”
The Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house,
Samson's bride was then given to his best man.
Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father, "I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!" But her father would not let him enter.
Samson said to them, "This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!"
Samson went and captured three hundred jackals and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair.
The Philistines asked, "Who did this?" They were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because the Timnite took Samson's bride and gave her to his best man." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.
Samson said to them, "Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting."
The men of Judah said, "Why are you attacking us?" The Philistines said, "We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us."
Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?" He said to them, "I have only done to them what they have done to me."
They said to him, "We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Promise me you will not kill me."
When Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, so that the ropes that bound him were like flax that's been burned by fire, and his bonds dissolved.
Samson then said, "With the jawbone of a donkey I have left them in heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men!"
Then Samson was very thirsty, and he called out to the Lord and said, “You have given this great victory through the hand of Your servant, and now am I to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised (pagans)?”
So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived.
Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.
Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went in to have sex with her.
The Gazites were told, "Samson has come here!" So they surrounded the town and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. They relaxed all night, thinking, "He will not leave until morning comes; then we will kill him!"
Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron.
After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.
So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated."
Samson said to her, "If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man."
They hid in the bedroom and then she said to him, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. The secret of his strength was not discovered.
Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued."
So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) But he tore the ropes from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.
Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued." He said to her, "If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man."
So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" He woke up and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.
She made Samson sleep on her knees, and she called a man and had him shave off the seven braids of his head. Then she began to abuse Samson, and his strength left him.
She said, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" He woke up and thought, "I will do as I did before and shake myself free." But he did not realize that the Lord had left him.
The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, "Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us."
When the people saw Samson, they praised their god, for they said,
The ravager of our country,
Who has killed many of us.”
When they really started celebrating, they said, "Call for Samson so he can entertain us!" So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. They made him stand between two pillars.
Samson said to the young man who held his hand, "Position me so I can touch the pillars that support the temple. Then I can lean on them."
Now the temple was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain.
Samson called to the Lord, "O Master, Lord, remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge against the Philistines for my two eyes!"
Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other.
Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He pushed hard and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life.
Thematic Bible
Total abstinence » Instances of » Samson
Adultery » Instances of » Samson
Beard » Samson
Children » Dedicated to God in infancy » Samson
Children » Instances of » Samson
Holy spirit » Examples of men receiving the gift of, under the old dispensation » Samson
Holy spirit » Old testament reference to » Samson
Holy spirit » Inspiration of » The judges » Samson
Holy spirit » Instances of » Samson
Israel » Under the judges » Led » Samson » 20 years
Israel » Names of the rulers before saul was anointed king » Samson
Judge » Samson
Judge » Samson » Samuel as the leader (judge)
Judge » Samson » The sons of samuel
And all the old men of Israel will gather together and will come to Samuel to Ramah; . And they will say to him, Behold, thou wert old, and thy sons went not in thy ways: now set up for us a king to judge us as all the nations.
Judge » Samson » Eli led israel
Judges of israel » Names of the rulers before saul was anointed king » Samson
extraordinary Judges » Names of » Samson
Lions » Killed by » Samson
And he will turn back after days to take her, and he will turn aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, an assembly of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. And he will break it off in his hands, and going, will go and eat, and he will go to his father and to his mother, and will give to them, and they will eat: and he announced not to them that from the body of the lion he broke off the honey.
Lions » Slain by » Samson
Lying » Exemplified » Samson
Manoah » A danite » Of zorah » Father of » Samson
For behold thee pregnant, and thou bearest a son; and a razor shall not come up upon his head, for the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of Philisteim. And the woman will go and will say to her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his sight as the sight of the messenger of God, very terrible: and I asked him not from whence he is, and his name he announced not to me. And he will say to me, Behold, thee conceiving, and thou bearest a son; and now drink not wine and strong drink, and thou shalt not eat any thing unclean, for the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb, even to the day of his death. And Manoah will pray to Jehovah and will say, With leave, my Lord, a man of God which thou sentest will he come now yet to us, and he will teach us what we shall do to the boy being brought forth. And God will hear to the voice of Manoah, and the messenger of God will come yet to the woman, and she will sit in the field; and Manoah her man not with her. And the woman will hasten and run, and announce to her man, and will say to him, Behold, the man was seen to me who came in the day to me. And Manoah will rise and will go after his wife, and will come to the man, and will say to him, Thou the man who spake to the woman? and he will say, I. And Manoah will say, Now shall come thy words. What shall be the judgment of the boy, and his work? And the messenger of Jehovah will say to Manoah, From all I said to the woman she shall watch. From all going forth from the vine of the wine she shall not eat, and wine and strong drink she shall not drink, and any thing unclean she shall not eat: all which I commanded she shall watch. And Manoah will say to the messenger of Jehovah, We will detain thee now, and we will do before thee a kid of the goats. And the messenger of Jehovah will say to Manoah, If thou shalt detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou shalt do a burnt-offering thou shalt do it to Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was a messenger of Jehovah. And Manoah will say to the messenger of Jehovah, What thy name, when shall come thy words and we honored thee? And the messenger of Jehovah will say to him, Wherefore this wilt thou ask for my name, and it is wonderful? And Manoah will take a kid of the goats, and the gift, and will bring up, upon the rock to Jehovah; and he separating to do, and Manoah and his wife seeing. And it will be in the going up of the flame from the altar to the heavens, and the messenger of Jehovah will go up in the flame of the altar and Manoah and his wife seeing; and they will fall upon their face to the earth. And the messenger of Jehovah will no more add to be seen to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he is the messenger of Jehovah. And Manoah will say to his wife, Dying, we shall die, because we saw God. And his wife will say to him, If Jehovah were inclined to put us to death, he took not from our hand a burnt-offering and gift, and he shewed us not all these, and as now caused us not to hear such as this. And the woman will bear a son, and she will call his name Samson. And the boy will grow, and Jehovah will bless him.
Miracles wrought through servants of God » Samson » Philistines killed
Miracles wrought through servants of God » Samson » Dagon's house pulled down
Miracles wrought through servants of God » Samson » The gates of gaza carried away
Miracles wrought through servants of God » Samson » A lion killed
Nazarite » Instances of » Samson
Philistines » Samson » Intermarried with
Philistines » Samson » Pulled down the house of dagon and destroyed immense numbers of
Philistines » Samson » Slew a thousand with the jawbone of an ass
Philistines » Samson » Slew many for burning his wife
Philistines » Samson » Burned vineyards, &c of
Philistines » Samson » Slew thirty, near askelon
Philistines » Samson » Blinded and imprisoned by
Philistines » Samson » Promised as a deliverer from
Power » Of the holy spirit examples of men receiving the gift of, under the old dispensation » Samson
Prayer, answers to » Samson
Samson » A life of contrasts » Mighty in physical strength
Samson » A life of contrasts » Spiritual at times
Samson » A life of contrasts » Separated as a nazarite
Samson » Blinded » By philistines » Pillars
And the people will see him and praise their god, for they said, God gave into our hand our enemy, and him destroying our land, and who multiplied our wounded. And it will be when their heart will be joyful, and they will say, Call to Samson, and he shall play to us. And they will call to Samson from the house of bonds and he will play before them, and they will set him between the pillars. And Samson will say to the boy holding him by his hand, Permit me and I shall feel the pillars which the house stood upon them, and I will lean upon them. And the house was filled with men and women, and there were all the princes of Philisteim, and upon the roof about three thousand men and women looking upon the sport of Samson And Samson will call to Jehovah, and will say, Lord Jehovah, remember me now, and strengthen me now but this once, O God, and I will avenge myself one vengeance for my two eyes of Philisteim. And Samson will clasp the two pillars the midst of which the house stood upon them, and he stayed himself upon them, one with his right hand and one with his left And Samson will say, My soul shall die with Philisteim. And he will bow with strength, and the house will fall upon the princes and upon all the people which are in it And the dead will be more which he killed in his death than which he killed in his life. And his brethren and all the house of his father will go down and will lift him up, and will bring him up, and bury him between Zorah and between Eshtaol in the grave of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.
Samson » His great strength
And the men of Judah will say to them, Why came ye up against us? and they will say, To bind Samson we came up, to do to him as he did to us. And three thousand men of Judah will go down to the cleft of the rock Etam, and they will say to Samson, Knewest thou not that Philisteim is ruling over us? and what this thou didst to us? and he will say to them, As they did to me, so did I to them. And they will say to him, To bind thee we came down, to give thee into the hand of Philisteim. And Samson will say to them, Swear to me lest ye shall fall upon me yourselves. And they will say to him, saying, No; but binding, we will bind thee and give thee into their hand: and killing, we will not kill thee. And they will bind him with two new cords and will bring him up from the rock. He came even to Lehi, and Philisteim shouted at his meeting: and the spirit of Jehovah will come suddenly upon him, and the cords which were upon his arms will be as flax which was burnt in fire, and his bands will melt from off his hands.
Samson » Wife of, estranged
Samson » A life of contrasts » Yet weak in resisting temptation
Samson » A life of contrasts » Yet courageous in battle
He came even to Lehi, and Philisteim shouted at his meeting: and the spirit of Jehovah will come suddenly upon him, and the cords which were upon his arms will be as flax which was burnt in fire, and his bands will melt from off his hands.
Samson » A danite » son of manoah
For behold thee pregnant, and thou bearest a son; and a razor shall not come up upon his head, for the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of Philisteim. And the woman will go and will say to her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his sight as the sight of the messenger of God, very terrible: and I asked him not from whence he is, and his name he announced not to me. And he will say to me, Behold, thee conceiving, and thou bearest a son; and now drink not wine and strong drink, and thou shalt not eat any thing unclean, for the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb, even to the day of his death.
Samson » A life of contrasts » Yet under the power of carnal appetites
And it will be after this, and he will love a woman in the valley of Shorek, and her name Delilah.
Samson » A life of contrasts » Yet tampering with evil associations
Samson » A life of contrasts » His sad end
Samson » A life of contrasts » Childish in his plans
Samson » Kills one-thousand philistines with the jawbone of a donkey
And Samson will say, With the jaw-bone of the ass, a heap, two heaps, with the jaw-bone of the ass I struck a thousand men. And it will be when he finished to speak, and he will cast away the jawbone from his hand, and he will call that place, the lifting up the jaw-bone.
Samson » Miraculously supplied with water
Samson » Cohabits with delilah, a prostitute; her machinations with the philistines to overcome him
And it will be after this, and he will love a woman in the valley of Shorek, and her name Delilah. And the princes of Philisteim will come up and will say to her, Persuade him, and see in what is his great strength, and in what we shall prevail against him, and bind him to humble him: and we give to thee each a thousand and a hundred of silver. And Delilah will say to Samson, Announce now to me in what is thy great strength, and in what thou shalt be bound to humble thee. And Samson will say to her, If they shall bind me with seven moist cords that were not dried, and I was weak and shall be as another man. And the princess of Philisteim will bring up to her seven moist cords which were not dried, and she will bind him with them. And lying in wait dwelling by her in the chamber. And she will say to him, Philisteim upon thee, Samson. And he will tear away the cords as a thread of tow will be torn away in its smelling the fire. And his strength was not known. And Delilah will say to Samson, Behold, thou deceivest me, and thou wilt speak to me lies: this time announce to me now in what thou shalt be bound. And he will say to her, If binding, they shall bind me with new cords which work was not done with them, and I was weak and was as another man. And Delilah will take new cords and will bind him with them, and she will say to him, Philisteim upon thee, Samson, (and the lier in wait dwelling in the chamber.) And he will tear them away from off his arms as a thread. And Delilah will say to Samson, Till now thou deceivedst me, and thou wilt speak to me lies: announce to me in what thou shalt be bound. And he will say to her, If thou shalt weave the seven braids of my head with the warp. And she will fasten with a peg, and she will say to him, Philisteim upon thee, Samson. And he will awake from his sleep, and he will tear away the peg of the braid and the warp. And she will say to him, Wilt thou say, I loved thee, and thy heart not with me? This three times thou didst deceive me, and didst not announce to me in what is thy great strength. And it will be in her pressing upon him with her words all the days, and she will urge him, and his soul will be shortened to death; And he will announce to her all his heart, and he will say to her, A razor came not up upon my head, for I am devoted to God from my mother's womb: if I were shaved, and my strength removed from me, and I was weak, and was as all men. And Delilah will see that he announced to her all his heart, and she will send and call to the princes of Philisteim, saying, Come up to me this time; for he announced to her all his heart And the princes of Philisteim will come up to her, and will bring up the silver in their hand. And she will cause him to sleep upon her knees; and she will call to a man, and she will shave the seven braids of his head; and she will begin to humble him, and his strength will remove from him. And she will say, Philisteim upon thee, Samson. And he will awake from his sleep, and say, I will go forth as once upon once, and shake myself. And he knew not that Jehovah removed from him.
Samson » His marriage feast and the riddle propounded
And it will be when they saw him, and they will take thirty companions, and they will be with him. And Samson will say to them, I will propose to you an enigma: if announcing, ye shall announce it to me in seven days of the drinking, and ye find out, and I will give to you thirty wide garments and thirty exchanges of garments: And if ye shall not be able to announce to me, and ye give me thirty wide garments and thirty exchanges of garments: and they will say to him, Propose thine enigma and we will hear it. And he will say to them, Out of him eating came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they were not able to announce the enigma in three days. And it will be in the seventh day, and they will say to Samson's wife, Persuade thy man and he shall announce to us the enigma, lest we shall burn thee and thy father's house with fire: did ye not call to us to possess us? And Samson's wife will weep upon him, and will say, Thou only hatedst me and lovedst me not: thou didst propose an enigma to the sons of my people, and to me thou didst not announce it. And he will say to her, Behold, to my father and to my mother I announced it not, and shall I announce to thee? And she will weep upon him seven days which were to them of the drinking: and it will be in the seventh day, and he will announce to her, for she urged him: and she will announce the enigma to the sons of her people. And the men of the city will say to him in the seventh day before the sun will go down, What is sweet above honey? and what is strong above the lion? and he will say to them, Unless ye ploughed with my heifer ye found not out my enigma. And the spirit of Jehovah will fall suddenly upon him, and he will go down to Ashkelon and will strike from them thirty men, and he will take their spoils, and will give exchanges to those. announcing the enigma. And his anger will kindle, and he will go up to his father's house.
Samson » Desires a philistine woman for his wife; kills a lion
And his father and his mother knew not that it was from Jehovah that he seeking an occasion from Philisteim; for in this time Philisteim was ruling over Israel And Samson will go down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and they will come even to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared at his meeting. And the spirit of Jehovah will fall suddenly upon him, and he will rend him as rending a kid, and nothing whatever in his hand: and he announced not to his father and to his mother what he did. And he will go down and speak to the woman, and she will be right in the eyes of Samson.
Samson » Is avenged for the estrangement of his wife
And Philisteim will say, Who did this? and they will say, Samson, son in-law of the Timnite, for he took his wife and he will give her to his companion. And Philisteim will go up and will burn her and her father with fire. And Samson will say to them, If ye will do according to this, if I was avenged by you, and afterward I will desist. And he will strike them leg upon thigh, a great smiting. And he will go down and dwell in the cleft of the rock Etam.