¹Samson went to Gaza , and saw there a prostitute , and went in to her .

²The Gazites were told, “Samson is here !” They surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city , and were quiet all the night , saying, “Wait until morning light; then we will kill him .”

³Samson lay until midnight , then arose at midnight and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city , with the two posts , and plucked them up , bar and all , and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron .

⁴It came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek , whose name was Delilah .

⁵The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her , “Entice him , and see in which his great strength lies , and by what means we may prevail against him , that we may bind him to afflict him ; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver .”

⁶Delilah said to Samson , “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you .”

⁷Samson said to her , “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried , then shall I become weak , and be as another man.”

⁸Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried , and she bound him with them .

⁹Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room . She said to him , “The Philistines are on you , Samson !” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known .

¹⁰Delilah said to Samson , “Behold , you have mocked me , and told me lies . Now please tell me how you might be bound.”

¹¹He said to her , “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done , then I will become weak , and be as another man.”

¹²So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them , then said to him , “The Philistines are on you , Samson !” The ambush was waiting in the inner room . He broke them off his arms like a thread .

¹³Delilah said to Samson , “Until now , you have mocked me and told me lies . Tell me with what you might be bound.”

He said to her , “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the fabric on the loom.”

¹⁴She fastened it with the pin , and said to him , “The Philistines are on you , Samson !” He awakened out of his sleep , and plucked away the pin of the beam and the fabric .

¹⁵She 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.”

¹⁶When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him , his soul was troubled to death .

¹⁷He told her all his heart and said to her , “No razor has ever come on my head ; for I have been a Nazirite 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 .”

¹⁸When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart , she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines , saying, “Come up this once , for he has told me all his heart .” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand .

¹⁹She made him sleep on her knees ; and she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head ; and she began to afflict him , and his strength went from him .

²⁰She said , “The Philistines are upon you , Samson !”

He awoke out of his sleep , and said , “I will go out as at other times , and shake myself free .” But he didn’t know that the LORD had departed from him .

²¹The Philistines laid hold on him and put out his eyes ; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of bronze ; and he ground at the mill in the prison .

²²However, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved .

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

²⁴When the people saw him , they praised their god ; for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us , into our hand .”

²⁵When their hearts were merry , they said , “Call for Samson , that he may entertain us .” They called for Samson out of the prison ; and he performed before them . They set him between the pillars ;

²⁶and 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 .”

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

²⁸Samson called to the LORD , and said , “Lord GOD , remember me , please , and strengthen me , please , only this once , God , that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes .”

²⁹Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested and leaned on them , the one with his right hand and the other with his left .

³⁰Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines !” He bowed himself with all his might ; and the house fell on the lords , and on all the people who were in it . So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life .

³¹Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down and took him , and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father. He judged Israel twenty years .