Thematic Bible
Judges 16:1 (show verse)
Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza. He met a prostitute and went to bed with her.
Judges 16:2 (show verse)
The people of Gaza discovered that Samson was there. They surrounded the place and waited for him all night long at the city gate. They were quiet all night, thinking: We will wait until daybreak and kill him.
Judges 16:3 (show verse)
However Samson stayed in bed until midnight. He got up and took hold of the city gate and pulled it up, doors, posts, lock, and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them far off to the top of the hill overlooking Hebron.
Judges 16:4 (show verse)
After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in Sorek Valley.
Judges 16:5 (show verse)
The five Philistine kings said to her: Entice Samson into telling you why he is so strong and how we can overpower him. Tie him up, and make him helpless. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.
Judges 16:6 (show verse)
Delilah said to Samson: Tell me what makes you so strong. How could you be subdued and tied up?
Judges 16:7 (show verse)
Samson answered: If they tie me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I'll be as weak as anybody else.
Judges 16:8 (show verse)
The Philistine kings brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that were not dried out, and she tied Samson up.
Judges 16:9 (show verse)
She had some men waiting in another room, so she shouted: Samson! The Philistines are coming! But he snapped the bowstrings just as thread breaks when fire touches it. They still did not know the secret of his strength.
Judges 16:10 (show verse)
Delilah told Samson: You made a fool of me. What is the truth? Please tell me how someone could tie you up.
Judges 16:11 (show verse)
He said: If I am tied with new unused ropes I will be weak.
Judges 16:12 (show verse)
Delilah tied him with new ropes. Then she shouted: Samson! The Philistines are coming! The men were waiting in another room. However he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread.
Judges 16:13 (show verse)
Delilah said to Samson: You still make a fool of me. What is the truth? Tell me how someone could tie you up. He told her: If you weave my seven locks of hair into a loom, and make it tight with a peg, I will be weak.
Judges 16:14 (show verse)
Delilah lulled him to sleep. She took his seven locks of hair and wove them into the loom. She made it tight with a peg and shouted: Samson! The Philistines are coming! He woke up and pulled his hair loose from the loom.
Judges 16:15 (show verse)
How can you say you love me, she asked: when you do not mean it? You have made a fool of me three times. You still have not told me what makes you strong.
Judges 16:16 (show verse)
She kept asking him, day after day. He got sick and tired of her nagging him.
Judges 16:17 (show verse)
So finally he told her the truth: My hair has never been cut, he said: I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. I would lose my strength if my hair were cut.
Judges 16:18 (show verse)
When Delilah realized that he told her the truth, she sent a message to the Philistine kings: Come back one more time. He told me the truth. They came and brought the money with them.
Judges 16:19 (show verse)
Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and called a man, who cut off Samson's seven locks of hair. Then she tormented him, for he had lost his strength.
Judges 16:20 (show verse)
She shouted: Samson! The Philistines are coming! He woke up and thought: I will get loose and go free, as always. He did not know that Jehovah had left him.
Judges 16:21 (show verse)
The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with copper chains. They put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison.
Judges 16:22 (show verse)
His hair grew back.
Judges 16:23 (show verse)
The Philistine kings met together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: Our god gave us victory over our enemy Samson!
Judges 16:24 (show verse)
They praised their god and said: Call Samson, and make him entertain us! They brought Samson out of the prison and they made him entertain them.
Judges 16:25 (show verse)
They forced him to stand between the columns. When the people saw him, they sang praise to their god: Our god gave us victory over our enemy, who devastated our land and killed so many of us!
Judges 16:26 (show verse)
Samson said to the boy who led him by the hand: Let me touch the columns that hold up the building. I want to lean on them.
Judges 16:27 (show verse)
The building was crowded with men and women. All five Philistine kings were there. There were about three thousand men and women on the roof, watching Samson entertain them.
Judges 16:28 (show verse)
Samson prayed: Sovereign Lord Jehovah please remember me. Please, God, give me my strength just this one time. With this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.
Judges 16:29 (show verse)
Then Samson took hold of the two middle columns holding up the building. He put one hand on each column. He pushed against them.
Judges 16:30 (show verse)
Samson shouted: Let me die with the Philistines! He pushed with all his might, and the building fell down on the five kings and everyone else. Samson killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life.
Judges 16:31 (show verse)
His brothers and the rest of his family came to get his body. They took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had been Israel's judge for twenty years.