1Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot woman there, and went in to her. 2When the Gazites were told, saying, Samson has come here! they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, In the morning, when it is daylight, we shall kill him. 3And Samson lay down till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that is before Hebron. 4Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5And the rulers of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6And Delilah said to Samson, Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you. 7And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven fresh shoots, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 8So the rulers of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh shoots, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 9Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! But he broke the shoots as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 10Then Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me with what you may be bound. 11So he said to her, If they bind to tie me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 12Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like thread. 13Delilah said to Samson, Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you may be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom; 14so she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. 15Then 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 where your great strength lies. 16And it came to pass, when she had pressed upon him daily with her words and urged him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17that he told her all his heart, and said to her, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite unto God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 18And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and summoned the rulers of the Philistines, saying, Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart. So the rulers of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19And she made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. And she began to afflict him, and his strength depart from him. 20And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! So he awoke from his sleep, and thought, I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free! But he had not perceived that Jehovah had departed from him. 21And the Philistines took him and bored out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he was grinding in the prison house. 22However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. 23Now the rulers of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands! 24And when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead. 25And it happened, when their hearts were feeling good, that they said, Summon Samson, that he may play for us. So they summoned Samson from the prison house, and he made sport before them. And they made him stand between the pillars. 26And Samson said to the lad who held his hand, Let me feel the pillars which support the house, that I may lean on them. 27Now the house was full of men and women. All the rulers of the Philistines were there; about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson made sport. 28And Samson called out to Jehovah, saying, O Lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, only this once, O God, that I may once take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes! 29And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. 30And Samson said, Let my soul die with the Philistines! And he pushed with all his might, and the house fell upon the rulers and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. 31And his brothers and all his father’s house came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.