Judges 16:21
The 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.
The 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.
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22 His hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off.
23 Samson’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.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,“Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!”
25 When 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.
26 Samson said to the young man who held his hand,“Position me so I can touch the pillars that support the temple. Then I can lean on them.”
27 Now 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.
28 Samson called to the LORD,“O Sovereign LORD, remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge against the Philistines for my two eyes!”
29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other.
30 Samson said,“Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life.
31 His brothers and all his family went down and brought him back. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel for twenty years.
17 Finally 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.”
18 When 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.
19 She 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.
20 She 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.
1 Samson’s Downfall Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and slept with her.
2 The 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!”
3 Samson 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.
4 After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.
5 The 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.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson,“Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.”
7 Samson said to her,“If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.”
8 So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and she tied him up with them.
9 They 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.
10 Delilah said to Samson,“Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.”
11 He said to her,“If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be just like any other man.”
12 So 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.
13 Delilah 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.”
14 So 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.
5 He lit the torches and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
6 The 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.
7 Samson said to them,“Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.”
8 He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi.
10 The men of Judah said,“Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines said,“We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.”
11 Three 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.”
12 They 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.”
13 They said to him,“We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.
14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the LORD’s Spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands.
15 He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.
7 Then he had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains to be led off to Babylon.
3 Samson said to them,“This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!”
8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
1 Samson’s Unconsummated Marriage Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye.
7 Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.
16 So he took David down, and they found them spread out over the land. They were eating and drinking and enjoying themselves because of all the loot they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
18 The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah in the foothills and the Negev. They captured and settled in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages.
1 Samson’s Birth The Israelites again did evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.
4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the LORD’s doing, because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines(for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel).
19 The 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.