The woman bore a son, and she called him Samson; the boy grew big, and Yahweh blessed him.

And Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah from the daughters of the Philistines.

But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a wife among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must take a wife from [the] uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Take her for me because {she pleases me}."

And Samson and his father and mother went down to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah, and suddenly a young lion [came] roaring to meet him.

Then he went down and talked to the woman, and {she pleased Samson}.

His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared there a feast, as young men were accustomed to doing this.

And Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle. If you can fully explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find [it out], I will give to you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.

When it was the fourth day, they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband and tell us the riddle, or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us to rob us?"

And Samson's wife wept before him, and she said, "You must hate me; you do not love me. You told the riddle to {my people}, but you have not explained [it] to me." He said to her, "I have not explained [it] to my father and mother. [Why] should I explain it to you?"

And Samson's wife was [given] to his companion who [was] his best man.

After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a {young goat}. He said, "I want to go to my wife's private room." But her father would not allow him to enter.

And Samson said to them, "This time, as far as the Philistines are concerned, when I do something evil I am without blame."

And Samson went and captured three hundred foxes, and he took torches. He turned [them] tail to tail, and he put one torch between two tails.

And [the] Philistines said, "Who has done this?" And they said, "Samson the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion." And [the] Philistines went up and burned her and her father with fire.

Samson said to them, "If you want to behave like this, [I swear] I will not rest unless I have taken revenge on you."

And the men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" And they said, "To bind Samson; to do to him just as he did to us."

Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines [are] ruling over us? What [is] this [that] you have done to us?" And he said to them, "Just as they did to me, so I have done to them."

They said to him, "We have come down to bind you and give you over into the hand of [the] Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves."

And Samson said, "With the jawbone of the donkey, heap upon heap; with the jawbone of the donkey, I struck dead one thousand men."

Samson went down to Gaza; there he saw a prostitute and {had sex with her}.

The Gazites [were told], "Samson has come here," so they surrounded [the place] and lay in ambush for him all night at the city gate. They kept silent all night, saying, "[We will wait] until the morning light, and then we will kill him."

But Samson lay until the middle of the night; he got up in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two door posts, tore them loose with the bar, put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill that is {in front of} Hebron.

So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and with what can you be tied up to subdue you?"

Samson said to her, "If you tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried up, I will become weak like everyone else."

The ambush [was] sitting [in wait] for her in an inner room. And she said to him, "[The] Philistines [are] upon you Samson!" And he snapped the bowstrings just as flax fiber snaps when it comes close to fire. And [the secret of] his strength remained unknown.

Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you can be bound."

So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them, and she said to him, "[The] Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!" (The ambush [was] sitting in an inner room.) But he snapped them from his arms like thread.

And Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told lies to me. Tell me how you can be bound." And he said to her, "If you weave seven locks of my head with warp-threads."

She fastened [it] with the pin and said to him, "[The] Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!" And Samson woke up from his sleep and tore loose the loom pin of the web and the warp-threads.

And she said to him, "[The] Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!" And he woke up from his sleep and said, "I will go out just like every other time and shake myself free," but he did not know that Yahweh had left him.

The rulers of [the] Philistines had gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice. And they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand."

After awhile, when their hearts were merry, they said, "Call Samson and let him entertain us." And they called Samson {from the prison}, and {he entertained them}. And they made him stand between the pillars.

Then Samson said to the servant who was holding him by his hand, "Position me so that I can touch the pillars on which the house rests, so I can lean on them."

And the house was full of men and women, and all of the rulers of [the] Philistines [were] there--about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching the performance of Samson.

And Samson called to Yahweh and said, "My Lord Yahweh, remember me! Please give me strength this one time, O God, so that I can repay [with] one act of revenge to [the] Philistines for my eyes."

And Samson reached out and held two of the middle pillars on which the house [was] resting, and he leaned on them, one on his right and one on his left.

And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." And he pushed with [all his] strength, and the house fell on the rulers and all of the people who [were] with him. And the dead whom he killed in his death were more than those he killed in his life.