16:1 Then went Shimshon to Azah (Gaza), and saw there an harlot, and went in to her.
16:2 [And it was told] the Gazites, saying, Shimshon is come hither. And they compassed [him] in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.
16:3 And Shimshon lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put [them] upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that [is] before Hevron.
16:4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name [was] Delilah.
16:5 And the rulers of the Pelishtim came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength [lies], and by what [means] we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give you every one of us eleven hundred [pieces] of silver.
16:6 And Delilah said to Shimshon, Tell me, I pray you, wherein your great strength [lieth], and wherewith you mightest be bound to afflict you.
16:7 And Shimshon said to her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
16:8 Then the rulers of the Pelishtim brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
16:9 Now [there were] men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said to him, The Pelishtim [be] upon you, Shimshon. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.
16:10 And Delilah said to Shimshon, Hinei, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray you, wherewith you mightest be bound.
16:11 And he said to her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
16:12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Pelishtim [be] upon you, Shimshon. And [there were] liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.
16:13 And Delilah said to Shimshon, Hitherto you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith you mightest be bound. And he said to her, If you weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.
16:14 And she fastened [it] with the pin, and said to him, The Pelishtim [be] upon you, Shimshon. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.
Shimshon, tormented by Delilah, reveals his secret
16:15 And she said to him, How canst you say, I love you, when your heart [is] not with me? you have mocked me these three times, and have not told me wherein your great strength [lieth].
16:16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, [so] that his nefesh was vexed to death;
16:17 That he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon mine head; for I [have been] a Nazir to Elohim (אלהים) from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any [other] man.
16:18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the rulers of the Pelishtim, saying, Come up this once, for he has showed me all his heart. Then the rulers of the Pelishtim came up to her, and brought money in their hand.
16:19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
16:20 And she said, The Pelishtim [be] upon you, Shimshon. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that ADONAI (יהוה) was departed from him.
16:21 But the Pelishtim took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Azah (Gaza), and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison bayit.
16:22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
16:23 Then the rulers of the Pelishtim gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, 'Our god has delivered Shimshon our enemy into our hand.
16:24 And when the people saw him, they praised their elohim: for they said, Our elohim has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
16:25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Shimshon, that he may make us sport. And they called for Shimshon out of the prison bayit; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.
16:26 And Shimshon said to the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the bayit standeth, that I may lean upon them.
16:27 Now the bayit was full of men and women; and all the rulers of the Pelishtim [were] there; and [there were] upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Shimshon made sport.
16:28 And Shimshon called to ADONAI (יהוה), and said, O Adonay (אדני) Elohim (יהוה), remember me, I pray you, and strengthen me, I pray you, only this once, O Elohim (אלהים), that I may be at once avenged of the Pelishtim for my two eyes.
16:29 And Shimshon took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the bayit stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
16:30 And Shimshon said, Let me die with the Pelishtim. And he bowed himself with [all his] might; and the bayit fell upon the rulers, and upon all the people that [were] therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than [they] which he slew in his life.
16:31 Then his achim and all the bayit of his avi came down, and took him, and brought [him] up, and buried him between Tzor'ah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his avi. And he judged Yisrael twenty shanah (years).