² A certain man of Zorah,^(A) named Manoah,^(B) from the clan of the Danites,^(C) had a wife who was childless,^(D) unable to give birth. ³ The angel of the Lord^(E) appeared to her^(F) and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son.^{(G) 4} Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink^(H) and that you do not eat anything unclean.^{(I) 5} You will become pregnant and have a son^(J) whose head is never to be touched by a razor^(K) because the boy is to be a Nazirite,^(L) dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead^(M) in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

³ Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” ⁴ So he went out and caught three hundred foxes^(A) and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch^(B) to every pair of tails, ⁵ lit the torches^(C) and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks^(D) and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love^(A) with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.^{(B) 5} The rulers of the Philistines^(C) went to her and said, “See if you can lure^(D) him into showing you the secret of his great strength^(E) and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels^[a] of silver.”^(F)

⁶ So Delilah^(G) said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

¹⁵ Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’^(A) when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time^(B) you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.^(C)” ¹⁶ With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

¹⁷ So he told her everything.^(D) “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite^(E) dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines^(F), “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.^{(G) 19} After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.^[a] And his strength left him.^(H)

²⁰ Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^(I)

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^(J)

²¹ Then the Philistines^(K) seized him, gouged out his eyes^(L) and took him down to Gaza.^(M) Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain^(N) in the prison. ²² But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.