Judges 13-16

Contemporary English Version

Samson Is Born

13 Once again the Israelites started disobeying the Lord. So he let the Philistines take control of Israel for 40 years.

² Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was not able to have children, ^3-5 (A) but one day an angel from the Lord appeared to her and said:

You have never been able to have any children, but very soon you will be pregnant and have a son. He will belong to God^[a] from the day he is born, so his hair must never be cut. And even before he is born, you must not drink any wine or beer or eat any food forbidden by God's laws.

Your son will begin to set Israel free from the Philistines.

⁶ She went to Manoah and said, “A prophet who looked like an angel of God came and talked to me. I was so frightened, that I didn't even ask where he was from. He didn't tell me his name, ⁷ but he did say that I'm going to have a baby boy. I'm not supposed to drink any wine or beer or eat any food forbidden by God's laws. Our son will belong to God for as long as he lives.”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed, “Our Lord, please send that prophet again and let him tell us what to do for the son we are going to have.”

⁹ God answered Manoah's prayer, and the angel went back to Manoah's wife while she was resting in the fields. Manoah wasn't there at the time, ¹⁰ so she found him and said, “That same man is here again! He's the one I saw the other day.”

¹¹ Manoah went with his wife and asked the man, “Are you the one who spoke to my wife?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

¹² Manoah then asked, “When your promise comes true, what rules must he obey and what will be his work?”

¹³ “Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her,” the Lord's angel answered. ¹⁴ “She must not eat or drink anything made from grapes. She must not drink wine or beer or eat anything forbidden by God's laws. I told her exactly what to do.”

¹⁵ “Please,” Manoah said, “stay here with us for just a little while, and we'll fix a young goat for you to eat.” ¹⁶ Manoah didn't realize that he was really talking to one of the Lord's angels.

The angel answered, “I can stay for a little while, although I won't eat any of your food. But if you would like to offer the goat as a sacrifice to the Lord, that would be fine.”

¹⁷ Manoah said, “Tell us your name, so we can honor you after our son is born.”

¹⁸ “No,” the angel replied. “You don't need to know my name. And if you did, you couldn't understand it.”

¹⁹ So Manoah took a young goat over to a large rock he had chosen for an altar, and he built a fire on the rock. Then he killed the goat, and offered it with some grain as a sacrifice to the Lord. But then an amazing thing happened. ²⁰ The fire blazed up toward the sky, and the Lord's angel went up toward heaven in the fire. Manoah and his wife bowed down low when they saw what happened.

²¹ Although the angel didn't appear to them again, they realized he was one of the Lord's angels. ²² Manoah said, “We have seen an angel.^[b] Now we're going to die.”^[c]

²³ “The Lord isn't going to kill us,” Manoah's wife responded. “The Lord accepted our sacrifice and grain offering, and he let us see something amazing. Besides, he told us that we're going to have a son.”

²⁴ Later, Manoah's wife did give birth to a son, and she named him Samson. As the boy grew, the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ Then, while Samson was staying at Dan's Camp^[d] between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol, the Spirit of the Lord took control of him.

Samson Gets Married

14 One day, Samson went to Timnah, where he saw a Philistine woman. ² When he got back home, he told his parents, “I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah, and I want to marry her. Get her for me!”^[e]

³ His parents answered, “There are a lot of women in our clan and even more in the rest of Israel. Those Philistines are pagans. Why would you want to marry one of their women?”

“She looks good to me,” Samson answered. “Get her for me!”

⁴ At that time, the Philistines were in control of Israel, and the Lord wanted to stir up trouble for them. That's why he made Samson desire that woman.

⁵ As Samson and his parents reached the vineyards near Timnah, a fierce young lion suddenly roared and attacked Samson. ⁶ But the Lord's Spirit took control of Samson, and with his bare hands he tore the lion apart, as though it had been a young goat. His parents didn't know what he had done, and he didn't tell them.

⁷ When they got to Timnah, Samson talked to the woman, and he was sure that she was the one for him.

⁸ Later,^[f] Samson returned to Timnah for the wedding. And when he came near the place where the lion had attacked, he left the road to see what was left of the lion. He was surprised to see that bees were living in the lion's skeleton, and that they had made some honey. ⁹ He scooped up the honey in his hands and ate some of it as he walked along. When he got back to his parents, he gave them some of the honey, and they ate it too. But he didn't tell them he had found the honey in the skeleton of a lion.^[g]

¹⁰ While Samson's father went to make the final arrangements with the bride and her family, Samson threw a big party,^[h] as grooms^[i] usually did. ¹¹ When the Philistines saw what Samson was like, they told 30 of their young men to stay with him at the party.

¹² Samson told the 30 young men, “This party will last for seven days. Let's make a bet: I'll tell you a riddle, and if you can tell me the answer before the party is over, I'll give each of you a shirt and a full change of clothing. ¹³ But if you can't tell me the answer, then each of you will have to give me a shirt and a full change of clothing.”

“It's a bet!” the Philistines said. “Tell us the riddle.”

¹⁴ Samson said:

Three days went by, and the Philistine young men had not come up with the right answer. ¹⁵ Finally, on the seventh^[j] day of the party they went to Samson's bride and said, “You had better trick your husband into telling you the answer to his riddle. Have you invited us here just to rob us? If you don't find out the answer, we will burn you and your family to death.”

¹⁶ Samson's bride went to him and started crying in his arms. “You must really hate me,” she sobbed. “If you loved me at all, you would have told me the answer to your riddle.”

“But I haven't even told my parents the answer!” Samson replied. “Why should I tell you?”

¹⁷ For the entire seven days of the party, she had been whining and trying to get the answer from him. But that seventh day she put so much pressure on Samson that he finally gave in and told her the answer. She went straight to the young men and told them.

¹⁸ Before sunset that day, the men of the town went to Samson with this answer:

Samson replied,

¹⁹ Then the Lord's Spirit took control of Samson. He went to Ashkelon,^[k] where he killed 30 men and took their clothing. Samson then gave it to the 30 young men at Timnah and stormed back home to his own family.

²⁰ The father of the bride made Samson's wife marry one of the 30 young men that had been at Samson's party.^[l]

15 Later, during the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit the young woman he thought was still his wife.^[m] He brought along a young goat as a gift and said to her father, “I want to go into my wife's bedroom.”

“You can't do that,” he replied. ² “When you left the way you did, I thought you were divorcing^[n] her. So I arranged for her to marry one of the young men who were at your party. But my younger daughter is even prettier, and you can have her as your wife.”

³ “This time,” Samson answered, “I have a good reason for really hurting some Philistines.”

Samson Takes Revenge

⁴ Samson went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them together in pairs with oil-soaked rags around their tails. ⁵ Then Samson took the foxes into the Philistine wheat fields that were ready to be harvested. He set the rags on fire and let the foxes go. The wheat fields went up in flames, and so did the stacks of wheat that had already been cut. Even the Philistine vineyards and olive orchards burned.

⁶ Some of the Philistines started asking around, “Who could have done such a thing?”

“It was Samson,” someone told them. “He married the daughter of that man in Timnah, but then the man gave Samson's wife to one of the men at the wedding.”

The Philistine leaders went to Timnah and burned to death Samson's wife and her father.^[o]

⁷ When Samson found out what they had done, he went to them and said, “You killed them! And I won't rest until I get even with you.” ⁸ Then Samson started hacking them to pieces with his sword.^[p]

Samson left Philistia and went to live in the cave at Etam Rock. ⁹ But it wasn't long before the Philistines invaded Judah^[q] and set up a huge army camp at Jawbone.^[r]

¹⁰ The people of Judah asked, “Why have you invaded our land?”

The Philistines answered, “We've come to get Samson. We're going to do the same things to him that he did to our people.”

¹¹ Three thousand men from Judah went to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, “Don't you know that the Philistines rule us, and they will punish us for what you did?”

“I was only getting even with them,” Samson replied. “They did the same things to me first.”

¹² “We came here to tie you up and turn you over to them,” said the men of Judah.

“I won't put up a fight,” Samson answered, “but you have to promise not to hurt me yourselves.”

^13-14 “We promise,” the men said. “We will only tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines. We won't kill you.” Then they tied up his hands and arms with two brand-new ropes and led him away from Etam Rock.

When the Philistines saw that Samson was being brought to their camp at Jawbone, they started shouting and ran toward him. But the Lord's Spirit took control of Samson, and Samson broke the ropes, as though they were pieces of burnt cloth. ¹⁵ Samson glanced around and spotted the jawbone of a donkey. The jawbone had not yet dried out, so it was still hard and heavy. Samson grabbed it and started hitting Philistines—he killed 1,000 of them! ¹⁶ After the fighting was over, he made up this poem about what he had done to the Philistines:

¹⁷ Samson tossed the jawbone on the ground and decided to call the place Jawbone Hill.^[t] It is still called that today.

¹⁸ Samson was so thirsty that he prayed, “Our Lord, you helped me win a battle against a whole army. Please don't let me die of thirst now. Those heathen Philistines will carry off my dead body.”

¹⁹ Samson was tired and weary, but God sent water gushing from a rock.^[u] Samson drank some and felt strong again.

Samson named the place Caller Spring,^[v] because he had called out to God for help. The spring is still there at Jawbone.

²⁰ Samson was a leader^[w] of Israel for 20 years, but the Philistines were still the rulers of Israel.

Samson Carries Off the Gates of Gaza

16 One day while Samson was in Gaza, he saw a prostitute and went to her house to spend the night. ² The people who lived in Gaza found out he was there, and they decided to kill him at sunrise. So they went to the city gate and waited all night in the guardrooms on each side of the gate.^[x]

³ But Samson got up in the middle of the night and went to the town gate. He pulled the gate doors and doorposts out of the wall and put them on his shoulders. Then he carried them all the way to the top of the hill that overlooks Hebron,^[y] where he set the doors down, still closed and locked.

Delilah Tricks Samson

⁴ Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in Sorek Valley. ⁵ The Philistine rulers^[z] went to Delilah and said, “Trick Samson into telling you what makes him so strong and what can make him weak. Then we can tie him up so he can't get away. If you find out his secret, we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”^[aa]

⁶ The next time Samson was at Delilah's house, she asked, “Samson, what makes you so strong? How can I tie you up so you can't get away? Come on, you can tell me.”

⁷ Samson answered, “If someone ties me up with seven new bowstrings that have never been dried,^[ab] it will make me just as weak as anyone else.”

^8-9 The Philistine rulers gave seven new bowstrings to Delilah. They also told some of their soldiers to go to Delilah's house and hide in the room where Samson and Delilah were. If the bowstrings made Samson weak, they would be able to capture him.

Delilah tied up Samson with the bowstrings and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!”

Samson snapped the bowstrings, as though they were pieces of scorched string. The Philistines had not found out why Samson was so strong.

¹⁰ “You lied and made me look like a fool,” Delilah said. “Now tell me. How can I really tie you up?”

¹¹ Samson answered, “Use some new ropes. If I'm tied up with ropes that have never been used, I'll be just as weak as anyone else.”

¹² Delilah got new ropes, and again some Philistines hid in the room. Then she tied up Samson's arms and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!”

Samson snapped the ropes as if they were threads.

¹³ “You're still lying and making a fool of me,” Delilah said. “Tell me how I can tie you up!”

“My hair is in seven braids,” Samson replied. “If you weave my braids into the threads on a loom and nail the loom^[ac] to a wall, then I will be as weak as anyone else.”

¹⁴ While Samson was asleep, Delilah wove his braids into the threads on a loom and nailed the loom to a wall.^[ad] Then she shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!”

Samson woke up and pulled the loom free from its posts in the ground and from the nails in the wall. Then he pulled his hair free from the woven cloth.

¹⁵ “Samson,” Delilah said, “you claim to love me, but you don't mean it! You've made me look like a fool three times now, and you still haven't told me why you are so strong.” ¹⁶ Delilah started nagging and pestering him day after day, until he couldn't stand it any longer.

¹⁷ Finally, Samson told her the truth. “I have belonged to God^[ae] ever since I was born, so my hair has never been cut. If it were ever cut off, my strength would leave me, and I would be as weak as anyone else.”

¹⁸ Delilah realized that he was telling the truth. So she sent someone to tell the Philistine rulers, “Come to my house one more time. Samson has finally told me the truth.”

The Philistine rulers went to Delilah's house, and they brought along the silver they had promised her. ¹⁹ Delilah had lulled Samson to sleep with his head resting in her lap. She signaled to one of the Philistine men as she began cutting off Samson's seven braids. And by the time she was finished, Samson's strength was gone. Delilah tied him up ²⁰ and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!”

Samson woke up and thought, “I'll break loose and escape, just as I always do.” He did not realize that the Lord had stopped helping him.

²¹ The Philistines grabbed Samson and poked out his eyes. They took him to the prison in Gaza and chained him up. Then they put him to work, turning a millstone to grind grain. ²² But they didn't cut his hair any more, so it started growing back.

²³ The Philistine rulers threw a big party and sacrificed a lot of animals to their god Dagon. The rulers said:

^24-25 Everyone there was having a good time, and they shouted, “Bring out Samson—he's still good for a few more laughs!”

The rulers had Samson brought from the prison, and when the people saw him, this is how they praised their god:

They made fun of Samson for a while, then they told him to stand near the columns that supported the roof. ²⁶ A young man was leading Samson by the hand, and Samson said to him, “I need to lean against something. Take me over to the columns that hold up the roof.”

²⁷ The Philistine rulers were celebrating in a temple packed with people and with 3,000^[af] more on the flat roof. They had all been watching Samson and making fun of him.^[ag]

²⁸ Samson prayed, “Please remember me, Lord God. The Philistines poked out my eyes, but make me strong one last time, so I can take revenge for at least one of my eyes!”^[ah]

²⁹ Samson was standing between the two middle columns that held up the roof. He felt around and found one column with his right hand, and the other with his left hand. ³⁰ Then he shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed against the columns as hard as he could, and the temple collapsed with the Philistine rulers and everyone else still inside. Samson killed more Philistines when he died than he had killed during his entire life.

³¹ His brothers and the rest of his family went to Gaza and took his body back home. They buried him in his father's tomb,^[ai] which was located between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson was a leader^[aj] of Israel for 20 years.