Judges 16:1

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Samson’s Downfall Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and slept with her.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Josh 15:47 : 47 Ashdod with its surrounding towns and settlements, and Gaza with its surrounding towns and settlements, as far as the Stream of Egypt and the border at the Mediterranean Sea.
  • Ezra 9:1-2 : 1 A Prayer of Ezra Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said,“The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this unfaithfulness!”
  • Gen 10:19 : 19 and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
  • Gen 38:16-18 : 16 He turned aside to her along the road and said,“Come, please, I want to sleep with you.”(He did not realize it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked,“What will you give me so that you may sleep with me?” 17 He replied,“I’ll send you a young goat from the flock.” She asked,“Will you give me a pledge until you send it?” 18 He said,“What pledge should I give you?” She replied,“Your seal, your cord, and the staff that’s in your hand.” So he gave them to her, then slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Judg 16:2-6
    5 verses
    81%

    2The Gazites were told,“Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. They relaxed all night, thinking,“He will not leave until morning comes; then we will kill him!”

    3Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron.

    4After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.

    5The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her,“Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces.”

    6So Delilah said to Samson,“Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.”

  • Judg 14:1-3
    3 verses
    77%

    1Samson’s Unconsummated Marriage Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye.

    2When he got home, he told his father and mother,“A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. Now get her for my wife.”

    3But his father and mother said to him,“Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.” But Samson said to his father,“Get her for me, because she is the right one for me.”

  • Judg 15:1-3
    3 verses
    76%

    1Samson Versus the Philistines Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father,“I want to sleep with my bride in her bedroom!” But her father would not let him enter.

    2Her father said,“I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!”

    3Samson said to them,“This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!”

  • Judg 14:7-8
    2 verses
    76%

    7Samson continued on down to Timnah and spoke to the girl. In his opinion, she was just the right one.

    8Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to see the lion’s remains. He saw a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass, as well as some honey.

  • Judg 16:12-23
    12 verses
    72%

    12So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him,“The Philistines are here, Samson!”(The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) But he tore the ropes from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

    13Delilah said to Samson,“Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her,“If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

    14So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him,“The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.

    15She said to him,“How can you say,‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.”

    16She nagged him every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it.

    17Finally he told her his secret. He said to her,“My hair has never been cut, for I have been dedicated to God from the time I was conceived. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

    18When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying,“Come up here again, for he has told me his secret.” So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands.

    19She made him go to sleep on her lap and then called a man in to shave off the seven braids of his hair. She made him vulnerable and his strength left him.

    20She said,“The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and thought,“I will do as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the LORD had left him.

    21The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison.

    22His hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off.

    23Samson’s Death and Burial The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said,“Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.”

  • Judg 16:8-10
    3 verses
    69%

    8So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and she tied him up with them.

    9They hid in the bedroom and then she said to him,“The Philistines are here, Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. The secret of his strength was not discovered.

    10Delilah said to Samson,“Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.”

  • Judg 16:27
    69%

    27Now the temple was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain.

  • Judg 14:10-11
    2 verses
    68%

    10Then Samson’s father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage. Samson hosted a party there, for this was customary for bridegrooms to do.

    11When the Philistines saw he had no attendants, they gave him thirty groomsmen who kept him company.

  • Judg 14:19-20
    2 verses
    68%

    19The LORD’s Spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men. He took their clothes and gave them to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home.

    20Samson’s bride was then given to his best man.

  • Judg 14:15-16
    2 verses
    67%

    15On the fourth day they said to Samson’s bride,“Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. If you refuse, we will burn up you and your father’s family. Did you invite us here to make us poor?”

    16So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder and said,“You must hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her,“Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?”

  • Judg 14:5
    67%

    5Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him.

  • Judg 15:6-7
    2 verses
    67%

    6The Philistines asked,“Who did this?” They were told,“Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite took Samson’s bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.

    7Samson said to them,“Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.”

  • Judg 1:18
    67%

    18The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the territory surrounding each of these cities.

  • Judg 13:24
    66%

    24Manoah’s wife gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the LORD empowered him.

  • Judg 15:11-12
    2 verses
    66%

    11Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson,“Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them,“I have only done to them what they have done to me.”

    12They said to him,“We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them,“Promise me you will not kill me.”

  • Judg 16:25
    66%

    25When they really started celebrating, they said,“Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. They made him stand between two pillars.

  • 2 Kgs 18:8
    66%

    8He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

  • Judg 15:9
    66%

    9The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi.

  • Gen 38:21-22
    2 verses
    65%

    21He asked the men who were there,“Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim by the road?” But they replied,“There has been no cult prostitute here.”

    22So he returned to Judah and said,“I couldn’t find her. Moreover, the men of the place said,‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’”

  • Gen 34:2
    65%

    2When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her, and sexually assaulted her.

  • Gen 38:15
    65%

    15When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.

  • Gen 38:2
    65%

    2There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. Judah acquired her as a wife and slept with her.