Judges 16

And Sampson went to Gaza, and he saw there a prostitute woman, and he went in to her.

And it was reported to the Gazites, saying: Sampson has come here. And they surrounded and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city, and they kept silent all night, saying: Until the dawn breaks through — then let us murder him.

And Sampson slept until midnight, and he rose at the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the city gate together with the two doorposts, and he lifted them up along with the bar and put them on his shoulders, and he went up to the top of the mountain that faces Chebron, and he put them there.

And it happened after this that he loved a woman in Alsorech, and her name was Dalida.

And the rulers of the Philistines went up to her and said to her: Deceive him and see in what his great strength lies, and by what we may prevail against him, and we will bind him so as to humble him; and we, each man, will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.

And Dalida said to Sampson: Tell me, please, in what your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound so as to be humbled.

And Sampson said to her: If they bind me with seven fresh sinews that have not been spoiled, then I shall become weak and be like one of the men.

And the rulers of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh sinews that had not been spoiled, and she bound him with them.

And the ambush was sitting for her in the inner chamber. And she said to him: Philistines are upon you, Sampson! And he snapped the sinews as when someone snaps a twist of tow when it smells fire; and his strength was not known.

And Dalida said to Sampson: Behold, you have deceived me and spoken lies to me; now then tell me with what you may be bound.

And he said to her: If, binding me fast, they bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I shall become weak and be like one of the men.

And Dalida took new ropes and bound him with them, and the ambush came out from the inner chamber. And she said: Philistines are upon you, Sampson! But he snapped them off his arms like a cord.

And Dalida said to Sampson: Behold, you have deceived me and spoken lies to me; tell me, please, with what you may be bound. And he said to her: If you weave the seven locks of my head together with the web and drive it in with the pin into the wall, then I shall be weak like one of the men.

And it happened while he was sleeping that Dalida took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web and fastened it with the pin into the wall, and she said: Philistines are upon you, Sampson! And he awoke out of his sleep and pulled out the pin of the woven cloth from the wall.

And Dalida said to Sampson: How can you say, I have loved you, when your heart is not with me? This third time you have deceived me, and you have not told me in what your great strength lies.

And it happened, when she pressed him hard with her words all the days and hemmed him in, that he grew faint of soul to the point of death.

And he told her all his heart and said to her: Iron has not come upon my head, for I am a holy one of God from my mother's womb. If then I am shaved, my strength will depart from me, and I shall become weak and be like all men.

And Dalida saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent and called the rulers of the Philistines, saying: Come up yet this once, for he has told me all his heart. And the rulers of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the silver in their hands.

And Dalida put Sampson to sleep upon her knees, and she called a man, and he shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to humble him, and his strength departed from him.

And Dalida said: Philistines are upon you, Sampson! And he awoke out of his sleep and said: I will go out as time after time and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from over him.

And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him fast with bronze fetters; and he was grinding in the prison house.

And the hair of his head began to sprout again, just as after it had been shaved.

And the rulers of the Philistines gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to make merry. And they said: God has given Sampson our enemy into our hand.

And the people saw him and sang hymns to their god, saying: Our god has delivered our enemy into our hand, the one who laid waste our land and who multiplied our slain.

And when their heart was merry, they said: Call Sampson from the prison house, and let him make sport before us. And they called Sampson from the house of confinement, and he made sport before them; and they struck him with their hands, and they set him between the pillars.

And Sampson said to the young man who was holding his hand: Let me go, and let me feel the pillars on which the house stands, and I will lean upon them.

And the house was full of the men and the women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there; and on the roof were about seven hundred men and women watching Sampson at his sport.

And Sampson wept to the Lord and said: Adonaie, Lord, remember me now, please, and strengthen me yet this once, O God, that I may repay the Philistines one recompense for my two eyes.

And Sampson embraced the two pillars of the house on which the house stood, and he leaned upon them, and he held one with his right hand and one with his left.

And Sampson said: Let my soul die with the Philistines! And he heaved with strength, and the house fell upon the rulers and upon all the people who were in it. And the dead whom Sampson killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.

And his brothers and his father's house went down and took him and carried him up and buried him between Saraa and Esthaol in the tomb of Manoe his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.