The "lords" of Shechem sent out men to ambush him on the mountain tops, and they robbed everyone who came by them along the roads, and this was reported to Abimelech.

Meanwhile, Samson had sex until midnight, then at midnight he got up, grabbed the doors, the two door posts, and the bars of the city gate, and uprooted them. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the mountain opposite Hebron.