1 ¶ Then Samson went to Gaza, and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

2 And when those living at Gaza were told that Samson had come there, they surrounded him, and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city, and were quiet all night, saying, In the morning, when it is light, we will kill him.

3 But Samson stayed in bed until midnight, and when he got up, he took hold of city gate, along with the two posts, and pulled them out, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

4 ¶ After that, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came to her, and said, Entice him, and find out what the source of his great strength is, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him and subdue him: and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me what is the source of your great strength, and how you might be bound to render you helpless.

7 And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have never been dried, then I will be weak, and be like any other man.

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not yet been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now she had men lying in wait, in an inner room. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he broke the bowstrings, as a string of tow breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said to Samson, You have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me how you might be bound.

11 And he said to her, If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I will be weak, and like any other man.

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And the men lying in wait were in an inner chamber. And he broke the ropes from his arms like thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, Up to now you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me how you might be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.

14 And doing so she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke from his sleep, and pulled away the pin of the loom, with the web.

15 And she said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? you have mocked me these three times, and have not told me in what your great strength lies.

16 And after she pressed him day after day with her words, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death;

17 So that he told her all his heart, saying to her, A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother’s womb: if I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man.

18 ¶ And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up at once, for he has opened his heart to me. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hands.

19 And she let Samson fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave the seven locks from his head; thus she rendered him helpless, and his strength went from him.

20 And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as I have at other times, and shake myself free. But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

21 Then the Philistines seized him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

22 ¶ However the hair of his head began to grow again after he had been shaven.

23 Then the Philistines lords gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god has delivered our enemy Samson into our hand.

24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who slew many of us.

25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, Call for Samson, that he may amuse us. And Samson was brought from the prison; and he amused them: and they placed him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, Allow me to feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them.

27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were about three thousand men and women on the roof, who looked on while Samson amused them.

28 And Samson called to the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, please remember me, and strengthen me once more, I pray O God, that I may with one act pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.

29 And Samson took hold of the two central pillars on which the building rested, and by which it was held up, one with his right hand, and the other with his left.

30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he pushed with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people that were in it. So the dead whom he slew at his death were more than those whom he slew during his life.

31 Then his brothers and the entire family of his father came down, and took his body, and brought it up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel for twenty years.