Judges 16:12-31

¹²So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up with them. She shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!” As before, men were hiding in her bedroom. But again Samson snapped the ropes from his arms as if they were thin threads.

¹³Delilah said to Samson, “You keep on making me look stupid, telling me these lies! Just tell me what can be used to tie you up!” “If you were to weave the seven braids of my hair into the web on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as anyone else,” he told her. So while he was asleep, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, weaving them into the web,

¹⁴and tightening the pin. She shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!” But Samson woke up and ripped out both the pin and the web from the loom.

¹⁵Then Delilah complained to Samson, “How can you tell me, ‘I love you,’ when you don't let me into your confidence? Three times you've me look stupid, not telling me where your incredible strength comes from!”

¹⁶She nagged and complained all the time, pestering him until he wanted to die.

¹⁷Eventually Samson confided in her, sharing everything. “My hair has never been cut, because I've been dedicated as a Nazirite to God from my birth. If I'm shaved, my strength will leave me, and I'll become as weak as anyone else.”

¹⁸Delilah realized that he had truly confided in her and shared everything, she sent a message to the Philistine leaders telling them, “Come back once more, because this time he's confided in me and told me everything.” So the Philistine leaders returned, bringing with them the money to give to her.

¹⁹Delilah soothed him sleep on her lap, and then called in someone to shave off the seven braids of hair. She started to torment him but he couldn't do anything for his strength left him.

²⁰She shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!” Samson woke up and thought to himself, “I'll do like before and shake myself free.” But he didn't know that the Lord had left him.

²¹The Philistines grabbed him and gouged out his eyes. Then they took him to Gaza where they imprisoned him in bronze chains. He was made to work grinding grain at the mill in the prison.

²²But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off.

²³The Philistine leaders gathered for a great religious festival to sacrifice to their god Dagon and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us!”

²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god, and said, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who devastated our land and killed so many of us.”

²⁵As they began to get drunk, they shouted, “Summon Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison to entertain them, and made him stand between the two main pillars of the building.

²⁶Samson said to the servant boy who was leading him by the hand, “Leave me by the pillars on which the temple rests so I can feel them, and lean against them.”

²⁷The temple was full of people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and on the roof were the ordinary people watching what Samson was doing.

²⁸Samson called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me and give me strength. Please God, do this just once more, so that with one act I may pay the Philistines back in revenge for the loss of my two eyes.”

²⁹Samson reached for the two middle pillars that supported the temple. With his right hand leaning on one pillar and his left hand on the other,

³⁰Samson shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!” and he pushed with all his strength. The temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. So those killed at his death were more than he killed in his life.

³¹Then his brothers and his whole family came and took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He led Israel as judge for twenty years.