And the wife bare a son, and called his name Samson. And the lad grew, and the LORD blessed him.

Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines,

Then his father and mother said unto him, "Is there never a woman of the daughters of thy brethren, among all my people: but that thou must go and fetch a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?" And Samson said unto his father, "Give me this woman for she pleaseth me well."

Then went Samson and his father and his mother down to Timnah. And when they came to the vineyards of Timnah, behold, a young lion roared upon him.

And he went down and talked with the woman, which seemed well favoured in the sight of Samson.

And when his father was come unto the woman, Samson made there a feast, for so used the young men to do.

And Samson said unto them, "I will put forth a riddle unto you. And if you can declare it within seven days of the feast and find it out, I will give you thirty shirts and thirty changes of garments:

And when the seventh day was come, they said unto Samson's wife, "Flatter with thine husband, that he may declare us thy riddle, or else we will burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to make us beggars? Or not?"

Then Samson's wife wept unto him and said, "It cannot be but that thou hatest me and lovest me not: for thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my folk and wilt not tell me what it meaneth." And he said, "Behold, I have not told it my father, nor my mother, and should I tell it thee?"

But Samson's wife was given to one of his companions that bare him company.

But it chanced, within a while after, even in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a Kid. And when he supposed to have gone in unto his wife into the chamber, her father would not suffer him to go in,

Then said Samson unto them, "Now I am blameless concerning the Philistines, though I do them evil."

And Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and fastened tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

Then the Philistines asked who had done that. And it was told them that Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife and given her to one of his companions. And the Philistines came and burnt her and her father with fire.

And Samson said unto them, "Should ye do so? For I will surely be avenged of you; and then I will cease."

And the men of Judah said, "Why are ye come against us?" And they answered, "To bind Samson are we come, even to do him as he hath done to us."

Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, "Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? Wherefore then hast thou served us thus?" And he answered them, "As they served me, so have I served them."

And they said unto him, "We are come to bind thee and to deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said unto them, "Sware unto me, that ye shall not hurt me yourselves."

And Samson said, "With the jaw of an ass, have I made heaps: with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men!"

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an whore, and went in unto her.

And it was told the Gazites, that Samson was come thither. And they went about and laid a wait for him all night in the gate of the city, but were still all the night, saying, "Tarry till the morning that it be day, and then let us kill him."

And Samson took his rest till midnight, and arose at midnight took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two side posts, and rent them off, bars and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that lieth before Hebron.

And Delilah said to Samson, "Oh, tell me where thy great strength lieth, and if thou were bound wherewith men might constrain thee."

And Samson said unto her, "If men bound me with seven ropes of fresh sinews that were never dried, I should be weak and as another man."

Notwithstanding, she had men lying in wait with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And he brake the cords as a string of tow breaketh, when it feeleth fire. And so his strength was not known.

Then said Delilah to Samson, "See: thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Now yet tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound."

And Delilah took new ropes and bound him therewith, and said unto him, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And there were layers of wait in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms, as they had been but a thread.

And Delilah said unto Samson, "Hitherto, thou hast beguiled me and told me lies: I pray thee yet, tell me wherewith men may bind thee." And he said unto her, "If thou plaitedest the seven locks of my head with a hair lace and fastenedest them with a nail."

And she said unto him, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And he awaked out of his sleep, and plucked and went away with the nail that was in the plaiting and with the hair lace.

And she said, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And he awoke out of his sleep and thought to go out as at other times before and shake himself, and knew not that the LORD was departed from him.

Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together, for to offer a solemn offering unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, "Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hands."

And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Send for Samson and let him play before us." And they fetched Samson out of the prison house, and he played before them, and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said unto the lad that led him by the hand, "Set me that I may touch the pillars that the house stands upon, and that I may lean to them."

And the house was full of men and women. And there was all the lords of the Philistines. And there were upon the roof a three thousand men and women, that beheld how Samson played.

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, "My Lord Jehovah think upon me, and strengthen me at this time only, O God, that I may be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes."

And Samson caught the two middle pillars on which the house stood and on which it was borne up, the one in his righthand, and the other in his left,

And what shall I more say? The time would be too short for me to tell of Gideon, of Barach, and of Samson, and of Jephthah. Also of David and Samuel, and of the prophets,