Judges 16

1He went also into Gaza, and saw there a woman a harlot, and went in unto her.

2And when the Philistines had beard this, and it was noised about among them, that Samson was come into the city, they surrounded him, setting guards at the gate of the city, and watching there all the night in silence, that in the morning they might kill him as he went out.

3But Samson slept till midnight, and then rising he took both the doors of the gate, with the posts thereof, and the bolt, and laying them on his shoulders, carried them up to the top of the hill, which looketh towards Hebron.

4After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila.

5And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive him, and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may be able to overcome him, to bind and afflict him: which if thou shalt do, we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest strength lieth, and what it is wherewith if thou wert bound thou couldst not break loose.

7And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men.

8And the princes of the Philistines brought unto her seven cords, such is he spoke of, with which she bound him;

9Men lying privately in wait with her, and in the chamber expecting the event of the thing, and she cried out to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the bands, as a man would break a thread of tow twined with spittle, when it smelleth the fire: so it was not known wherein his strength Jay.

10And Dalila said to him: Behold thou hast mocked me, and hast told me a false thing: but now at least tell me wherewith thou mayest be bound.

11And he answered her: If I shall be bound with new ropes, that were never in work, I shall be weak and like other men.

12Dalila bound him again with these, and cried out: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson, there being an ambush prepared for him in the chamber. But he broke the bands like threads of webs.

13And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies? Shew me wherewith thou mayest be bound. And Samson answered her: If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace, and tying them round about a nail fastenest it in the ground, I shall be weak.

14And when Dalila had done this, she said to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking out of his sleep he drew out the nail with the hairs and the lace.

15And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me? Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy great strength lieth.

16And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even until death.

17Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor hath never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God from my mother’s womb: if my head be shaven, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men.

18Then seeing that be had discovered to her all his mind, she sent to the princes of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once more, for now he hath opened his heart to me. And they went up taking with them the money which they had promised.

19But she made him sleep upon her knees, and lay his head in her bosom. And she called a barber, and shaved his seven locks, and began to drive him away, and thrust him from her: for immediately his strength departed from him.

20And she said: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking from sleep, he said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and shake myself, not knowing that the Lord was departed from him.

21Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him grind.

22And now his hair began to grow again.

23And the princes of the Philistines assembled together, to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god, and to make merry, saying: Our god hath delivered our enemy Samson into our hands.

24And the people also seeing this, praised their god, and said the same: Our god hath delivered our adversary into our bands, him that destroyed our country and killed very many.

25And rejoicing in their feasts, when they had now taken their good cheer, they commanded that Samson should be called, and should play before them. And being brought out of prison he played before them, and they made him stand between two pillars.

26And he said to the lad that guided his steps: Suffer me to touch the pillars which support the whole house, and let me lean upon them, and rest a little.

27Now the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of the Philistines were there. Moreover about three thousand persons of both sexes from the roof and the higher part of the house, were beholding Samson’s play.

28But he called upon the Lord, saying: O Lord God, remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, that I may revenge myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two eyes I may take one revenge.

29And laying hold on both the pillars on which the house rested, and holding the one with his right hand, and the other with his left,

30He said: Let me die with the Philistines. And when he had strongly shook the pillars, the house fell upon all the princes, and the rest of the multitude that was there: and he killed many more at his death, than he had killed before in his life.

31And his brethren and all his kindred, going down took his body, and buried it between Saraa and Esthaol in the buryingplace of his father Manue: and he judged Israel twenty years.

1Abiit quoque in Gazam, et vidit ibi mulierem meretricem, ingressusque est ad eam.

2Quod cum audissent Philisthiim, et percrebruisset apud eos intrasse urbem Samson, circumdederunt eum, positis in porta civitatis custodibus: et ibi tota nocte cum silentio præstolantes, ut facto mane exeuntem occiderent.

3Dormivit autem Samson usque ad medium noctem: et inde consurgens, apprehendit ambas portæ fores cum postibus suis et sera, impositasque humeris suis portavit ad verticem montis, qui respicit Hebron.

4Post hæc amavit mulierem, quæ habitabat in valle Sorec, et vocabatur Dalila.

5Veneruntque ad eam principes Philisthinorum, atque dixerunt: Decipe eum, et disce ab illo, in quo habeat tantam fortitudinem, et quomodo eam superare valeamus, et vinctum affligere: quod si feceris, dabimus tibi singuli mille et centum argenteos.

6Locuta est ergo Dalila ad Samson: Dic mihi, obsecro, in quo sit tua maxima fortitudo, et quid sit quo ligatus erumpere nequeas?

7Cui respondit Samson: Si septem nerviceis funibus necdum siccis, et adhuc humentibus, ligatus fuero, infirmus ero ut ceteri homines.

8Attuleruntque ad eam satrapæ Philisthinorum septem funes, ut dixerat: quibus vinxit eam,

9latentibus apud se insidiis, et in cubiculo finem rei expectantibus: clamavitque ad eum: Philisthiim super te, Samson. Qui rupit vincula, quomodo si rumpat quis filum de stuppæ tortum putamine, cum odorem ignis acceperit: et non est cognitum in quo esset fortitudo ejus.

10Dixitque ad eum Dalila: Ecce illusisti mihi, et falsum locutus es: saltem nunc indica mihi quo ligari debeas.

11Cui ille respondit: Si ligatus fuero novis funibus, qui numquam fuerunt in opere, infirmus ero, et aliorum hominum similis.

12Quibus rursum Dalila vinxit eum, et clamavit: Philisthiim super te, Samson: in cubiculo insidiis præparatis. Qui ita rupit vincula quasi fila telarum.

13Dixitque Dalila rursum ad eum: Usquequo decipis me, et falsum loqueris? ostende quo vinciri debeas. Cui respondit Samson: Si septem crines capitis mei cum licio plexueris, et clavum his circumligatum terræ fixeris, infirmus ero.

14Quod cum fecisset Dalila, dixit ad eum: Philisthiim super te, Samson. Qui consurgens de somno extraxit clavum cum crinibus et licio.

15Dixitque ad eum Dalila: Quomodo dicis quod amas me, cum animus tuus non sit mecum? Per tres vices mentitus es mihi, et noluisti dicere in quo sit maxima fortitudo tua.

16Cumque molesta esset ei, et per multos dies jugiter adhæreret, spatium ad quietem non tribuens, defecit anima ejus, et ad mortem usque lassata est.

17Tunc aperiens veritatem rei, dixit ad eam: Ferrum numquam ascendit super caput meum, quia nazaræus, id est, consecratus Deo, sum de utero matris meæ: si rasum fuerit caput meum, recedet a me fortitudo mea, et deficiam, eroque sicut ceteri homines.

18Vidensque illa quod confessus ei esset omnem animum suum, misit ad principes Philisthinorum ac mandavit: Ascende adhuc semel, quia nunc mihi aperuit cor suum. Qui ascenderunt assumpta pecunia, quam promiserant.

19At illa dormire eum fecit super genua sua, et in sinu suo reclinare caput. Vocavitque tonsorem, et rasit septem crines ejus, et cœpit abigere eum, et a se repellere: statim enim ab eo fortitudo discessit.

20Dixitque: Philisthiim super te, Samson. Qui de somno consurgens, dixit in animo suo: Egrediar sicut ante feci, et me excutiam: nesciens quod recessisset ab eo Dominus.

21Quem cum apprehendissent Philisthiim, statim eruerunt oculos ejus, et duxerunt Gazam vinctum catenis, et clausum in carcere molere fecerunt.

22Jamque capilli ejus renasci cœperunt.

23Principes Philisthinorum convenerunt in unum ut immolarent hostias magnificas Dagon deo suo, et epularentur, dicentes: Tradidit deus noster inimicum nostrum Samson in manus nostras.

24Quod etiam populus videns, laudabat deum suum, eademque dicebat: Tradidit deus noster adversarium nostrum in manus nostras, qui delevit terram nostram, et occidit plurimos.

25Lætantesque per convivia, sumptis jam epulis, præceperunt ut vocaretur Samson, et ante eos luderet. Qui adductus de carcere ludebat ante eos, feceruntque eum stare inter duas columnas.

26Qui dixit puero regenti gressus suos: Dimitte me, ut tangam columnas, quibus omnis imminet domus, et recliner super eas, et paululum requiescam.

27Domus autem erat plena virorum ac mulierum, et erant ibi omnes principes Philisthinorum, ac de tecto et solario circiter tria millia utriusque sexus spectantes ludentem Samson.

28At ille invocato Domino ait: Domine Deus, memento mei, et redde mihi nunc fortitudinem pristinam, Deus meus, ut ulciscar me de hostibus meis, et pro amissione duorum luminum unam ultionem recipiam.

29Et apprehendens ambas columnas quibus innitebatur domus, alteramque earum dextera et alteram læva tenens,

30ait: Moriatur anima mea cum Philisthiim. Concussisque fortiter columnis, cecidit domus super omnes principes, et ceteram multitudinem quæ ibi erat: multoque plures interfecit moriens, quam ante vivus occiderat.

31Descendentes autem fratres ejus et universa cognatio, tulerunt corpus ejus, et sepelierunt inter Saraa et Esthaol in sepulchro patris sui Manue: judicavitque Israël viginti annis.

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?”

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.

10And Delilah said to him: “Behold, you have mocked me, and you have spoken a falsehood. But at least now, tell me with what you may be bound.”

11And he answered her, “If I will be bound with new cords, which have never been used, I will be weak and like other men.”

12Again, Delilah tied him with these, and she cried out, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” For an ambush had been prepared in the bedroom. But he broke the bindings like the filaments of a web.

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.”

14And when Delilah had done this, she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” And arising from sleep, he withdrew the spike with the hairs and the weaving.

15And Delilah said to him: “How can you say that you love me, when your soul is not with me? You have lied to me on three occasions, and you are not willing to reveal wherein lies your very great strength.”

16And when she had been very troublesome to him, and over many days had continually stayed nearby, giving him no time to rest, his soul was faint, and he was weary, even unto death.

17Then disclosing the truth of the matter, he said to her: “Iron has never been drawn across my head, for I am a Nazirite, that is, I have been consecrated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head will be shaven, my strength will depart from me, and I will be faint and will be like other men.”

18Then, seeing that he had confessed to her his whole soul, she sent to the leaders of the Philistines and ordered: “Come up just once more. For now he has opened his heart to me.” And they went up, taking with them the money that they had promised.

19But she made him sleep upon her knees, and recline his head upon her bosom. And she called a barber, and he shaved his seven locks of hair. And she began to push him away, and to repel him from herself. For immediately his strength departed from him.

20And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And awaking from sleep, he said in his mind, “I will break away and shake myself free, just as I did before.” For he did not know that the Lord had withdrawn from him.

21And when the Philistines had seized him, they immediately plucked out his eyes. And they led him, bound in chains, to Gaza. And enclosing him in a prison, they made him work a millstone.

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.

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.

31Then his brothers and all his relatives, going down, took his body, and they buried it between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying place of his father, Manoah. And he judged Israel for twenty years.