samson and delilah

⁴After these things, he loved a woman who was living in the valley of Sorek. And she was called Delilah. ⁵And the leaders of the Philistines went to her, and they said: “Deceive him, and learn from him wherein lies his great strength, and how we may be able to overcome him and to impose restraints on him. And if you will do this, each one of us will give you one thousand one hundred silver coins.” ⁶Therefore, Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, I beg you, wherein lies your very great strength, and with what might you be bound, so that you could not break free?” ⁷And Samson answered her, “If I will be bound with seven cords, made of sinews not yet dry, but still damp, I will be weak like other men.” ⁸And the princes of the Philistines brought to her seven cords, such as he had described. And she bound him with these. ⁹And so, those hiding in ambush with her, in the bedroom, were expecting the end of the matter. And she cried out to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords, as one would break a thread of flax, twisted for cutting and singed by fire. And so it was not known wherein lay his strength.

³²And what should I say next? For time is not sufficient for me to give an account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the Prophets:

¹He also went into Gaza. And there he saw a harlot woman, and he entered to her. ²And when the Philistines had heard of this, and it had become well known among them, that Samson had entered the city, they surrounded him, placing guards at the gate of the city. And there they were keeping watch all night in silence, so that, in the morning, they might kill him as he was going out. ³But Samson slept until the middle of the night, and rising up from there, he took both doors from the gate, with their posts and bars. And laying them upon his shoulders, he carried them to the top of the hill that looks toward Hebron.

¹Then Samson descended to Timnah. And seeing there a woman from the daughters of the Philistines, ²he went up, and he told his father and his mother, saying: “I saw a woman in Timnah from the daughters of the Philistines. I ask that you take her to me as wife.” ³And his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, so that you would be willing to take a wife from the Philistines, who are uncircumcised?” And Samson said to his father: “Take this woman to me. For she has pleased my eyes.” ⁴Now his parents did not know that the matter was done by the Lord, and that he sought an occasion against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. ⁵And so, Samson descended with his father and mother to Timnah. And when they had arrived at the vineyards of the town, he saw a young lion, savage and roaring, and it met him. ⁶Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and he tore apart the lion, like a young goat being torn into pieces, having nothing at all in his hand. And he was not willing to reveal this to his father and mother.

⁴After these things, he loved a woman who was living in the valley of Sorek. And she was called Delilah. ⁵And the leaders of the Philistines went to her, and they said: “Deceive him, and learn from him wherein lies his great strength, and how we may be able to overcome him and to impose restraints on him. And if you will do this, each one of us will give you one thousand one hundred silver coins.” ⁶Therefore, Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, I beg you, wherein lies your very great strength, and with what might you be bound, so that you could not break free?” ⁷And Samson answered her, “If I will be bound with seven cords, made of sinews not yet dry, but still damp, I will be weak like other men.” ⁸And the princes of the Philistines brought to her seven cords, such as he had described. And she bound him with these. ⁹And so, those hiding in ambush with her, in the bedroom, were expecting the end of the matter. And she cried out to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords, as one would break a thread of flax, twisted for cutting and singed by fire. And so it was not known wherein lay his strength.

²²And now his hair began to grow back. ²³And the leaders of the Philistines convened as one, so that they might offer great sacrifices to Dagon, their god. And they feasted, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy, Samson, into our hands.” ²⁴Then, too, the people, seeing this, praised their god, and they said the same, “Our god has delivered our adversary into our hands: the one who destroyed our land and who killed very many.” ²⁵And rejoicing in their celebration, having now taken food, they instructed that Samson be called, and that he be mocked before them. And having been brought from prison, he was mocked before them. And they caused him to stand between two pillars. ²⁶And he said to the boy who was guiding his steps, “Permit me to touch the pillars, which support the entire house, and to lean against them, so that I may rest a little.” ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women. And all the leaders of the Philistines were there, as well as about three thousand persons, of both sexes, on the roof and in the upper level of the house, who were watching Samson being mocked.

⁵And so, Samson descended with his father and mother to Timnah. And when they had arrived at the vineyards of the town, he saw a young lion, savage and roaring, and it met him. ⁶Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and he tore apart the lion, like a young goat being torn into pieces, having nothing at all in his hand. And he was not willing to reveal this to his father and mother.

¹He also went into Gaza. And there he saw a harlot woman, and he entered to her. ²And when the Philistines had heard of this, and it had become well known among them, that Samson had entered the city, they surrounded him, placing guards at the gate of the city. And there they were keeping watch all night in silence, so that, in the morning, they might kill him as he was going out. ³But Samson slept until the middle of the night, and rising up from there, he took both doors from the gate, with their posts and bars. And laying them upon his shoulders, he carried them to the top of the hill that looks toward Hebron. ⁴After these things, he loved a woman who was living in the valley of Sorek. And she was called Delilah. ⁵And the leaders of the Philistines went to her, and they said: “Deceive him, and learn from him wherein lies his great strength, and how we may be able to overcome him and to impose restraints on him. And if you will do this, each one of us will give you one thousand one hundred silver coins.” ⁶Therefore, Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, I beg you, wherein lies your very great strength, and with what might you be bound, so that you could not break free?”

¹And again, the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And he delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. ²Now there was a certain man from Zorah, and of the stock of Dan, whose name was Manoah, having a barren wife. ³And an Angel of the Lord appeared to her, and he said: “You are barren and without children. But you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴Therefore, take care that you do not drink wine or strong drink. Neither shall you eat anything unclean. ⁵For you shall conceive and bear a son, whose head no razor shall touch. For he shall be a Nazirite of God, from his infancy and from his mother’s womb. And he shall begin to free Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁶And when she had gone to her husband, she said to him: “A man of God came to me, having the countenance of an Angel, exceedingly terrible. And when I had inquired of him, who he was, and where he was from, and what name he was called, he was not willing to tell me.

²³And the leaders of the Philistines convened as one, so that they might offer great sacrifices to Dagon, their god. And they feasted, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy, Samson, into our hands.” ²⁴Then, too, the people, seeing this, praised their god, and they said the same, “Our god has delivered our adversary into our hands: the one who destroyed our land and who killed very many.” ²⁵And rejoicing in their celebration, having now taken food, they instructed that Samson be called, and that he be mocked before them. And having been brought from prison, he was mocked before them. And they caused him to stand between two pillars. ²⁶And he said to the boy who was guiding his steps, “Permit me to touch the pillars, which support the entire house, and to lean against them, so that I may rest a little.” ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women. And all the leaders of the Philistines were there, as well as about three thousand persons, of both sexes, on the roof and in the upper level of the house, who were watching Samson being mocked. ²⁸Then, calling upon the Lord, he said, “O Lord God remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, so that I may avenge myself against my enemies, and so that I may receive one vengeance for the deprivation of my two eyes.”

⁴After these things, he loved a woman who was living in the valley of Sorek. And she was called Delilah. ⁵And the leaders of the Philistines went to her, and they said: “Deceive him, and learn from him wherein lies his great strength, and how we may be able to overcome him and to impose restraints on him. And if you will do this, each one of us will give you one thousand one hundred silver coins.” ⁶Therefore, Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, I beg you, wherein lies your very great strength, and with what might you be bound, so that you could not break free?” ⁷And Samson answered her, “If I will be bound with seven cords, made of sinews not yet dry, but still damp, I will be weak like other men.” ⁸And the princes of the Philistines brought to her seven cords, such as he had described. And she bound him with these. ⁹And so, those hiding in ambush with her, in the bedroom, were expecting the end of the matter. And she cried out to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords, as one would break a thread of flax, twisted for cutting and singed by fire. And so it was not known wherein lay his strength.

²⁸Then, calling upon the Lord, he said, “O Lord God remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, so that I may avenge myself against my enemies, and so that I may receive one vengeance for the deprivation of my two eyes.” ²⁹And taking hold of both the pillars, on which the house rested, and holding one with his right hand and the other with his left, ³⁰he said, “May my life die with the Philistines.” And when he had shaken the pillars strongly, the house fell upon all the leaders, and the rest of the multitude who were there. And he killed many more in his death than he had killed before in his life.

¹³And Delilah spoke to him again: “How long will you deceive me and tell me falsehoods? Reveal with what you ought to be bound.” And Samson responded to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with a loom, and if you tie these around a spike and fix it to the ground, I will be weak.”

¹⁹And so the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he descended to Ashkelon, and in that place he struck down thirty men. And taking away their garments, he gave them to those who had solved the problem. And being exceedingly angry, he went up to his father’s house.

¹⁴And when he had arrived at the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines, shouting aloud, had met him, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. And just as flax is usually consumed by a hint of fire, so were the ties with which he was bound broken and released. ¹⁵And finding a jawbone which was laying there, that is, the jawbone of a donkey, snatching it up, he put to death a thousand men with it. ¹⁶And he said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, with the jaw of the colt of a donkey, I have destroyed them, and I have struck down a thousand men.”

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: A man or a woman, when they have made a vow so that they may be sanctified, and when they are willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord, ³shall abstain from wine and from anything which is able to inebriate. They shall not drink vinegar made from wine or from any other drink, nor anything pressed from the grape. They shall not eat grapes, neither fresh nor dried. ⁴During all the days that they are consecrated to the Lord by vow, they shall not eat whatever may be from the vineyard, from raisins, even to grape seeds. ⁵During all the time of his separation, no razor shall pass over his head, even until the completion of the day when he is consecrated to the Lord. He shall be holy, letting the hair of his head grow long. ⁶During all the time of his consecration, he shall not enter because of a death,

⁵For you shall conceive and bear a son, whose head no razor shall touch. For he shall be a Nazirite of God, from his infancy and from his mother’s womb. And he shall begin to free Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

²⁴And so she bore a son, and she called his name Samson. And the boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.