Judges 13-16

Revised Geneva Translation

13 But the children of Israel continued to commit wickedness in the sight of the LORD. And the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

² Then there was a man in Zorah, of the family of the Danites, named Manoah, whose wife was barren and did not bear.

³ And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, “Behold, now you are barren, and do not bear. But you shall conceive and bear a son.

⁴ “And now, therefore, be careful that you drink no wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing.

⁵ “For lo, you shall conceive and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head. For the child shall be a Nazirite to God, from his birth. And he shall begin to save Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.”

⁶ Then the wife came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and the appearance of him was like the appearance of the Angel of God exceedingly fearful. But I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.

⁷ “But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And now you shall drink no wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God, from his birth to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, my Lord, let the man of God, whom You sent, now come back to us and teach us what we shall do for the child after he is born.”

⁹ And God heard the voice of Manoah. And the Angel of God came to the wife again, as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband, was not with her.

¹⁰ And the wife hurried and ran and told her husband and said to him, “Behold, the man who came to me today has appeared to me!”

¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “Yes.”

¹² Then Manoah said, “Now let your saying come to pass at this time. How shall the boy live and what shall be his work?”

¹³ And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “The woman must be careful to do all that I said to her.

¹⁴ “She may eat of nothing that comes from the vine. She shall not drink wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing. Let her observe all that I have commanded her.”

¹⁵ Manoah then said to the Angel of the LORD, “Please, let us detain you until we have made a kid ready for you.”

¹⁶ And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Though you make me stay, I will not eat of your bread. And if you would make a Burnt Offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was an Angel of the LORD.

¹⁷ Again, Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that when your saying comes to pass, we may honor you?”

¹⁸ And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, which is secret?”

¹⁹ Then Manoah took a kid, with a Meat Offering, and offered it upon a stone, to the LORD. And He did wonders, while Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰ For when the flame came up toward Heaven from the Altar, the Angel of the LORD ascended up in the flame of the Altar. And Manoah and his wife beheld it and fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ And the Angel of the LORD no longer appeared to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that it was an Angel of the LORD.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”

²³ But his wife said to him, “If the LORD wished to kill us, He would not have received a Burnt Offering, and a Meat Offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or told us such things at this time.”

²⁴ And the wife bore a son and called his name, Samson. And the child grew; and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵ And the Spirit of the LORD began to strengthen him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

14 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

² And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, “I have seen a woman in Timnah, of the daughters of the Philistines. Now, therefore, give me her as a wife.”

³ Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there never a wife among the daughters of your brethren, and among all my people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Give me her, for she pleases me well.”

⁴ But his father and his mother did not know that it came from the LORD, that he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines reigned over Israel.

⁵ Then Samson and his father and his mother went down to Timnah and came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion roared upon him.

⁶ And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him. And he tore him as one would have torn a kid. And he had nothing in his hand, nor did he tell his father or his mother what he had done.

⁷ And he went down and talked with the woman, who was beautiful in the eyes of Samson.

⁸ And within a few days, when he returned to marry her, he went aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, there was a swarm of bees, and honey in the body of the lion.

⁹ And he took it in his hands and began eating and came to his father and to his mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the body of the lion.

¹⁰ So, his father went down to the woman. And Samson made a feast there. For so the young men used to do.

¹¹ And when they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

¹² Then Samson said to them, “I will now put forth a riddle to you. And if you can declare it to me within seven days of the feast, and solve it, I will give you thirty sheets and thirty changes of clothes.

¹³ “But if you cannot declare it me, then you shall give me thirty sheets and thirty changes of clothes.” And they answered him, “Put forth your riddle, so that we may hear it.”

¹⁴ And he said to them, “Out of the eater came food, and out of the strong came sweetness.” And they could not solve the riddle within three days.

¹⁵ And when the seventh day had come, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband so that he may explain the riddle to us, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to steal from us? Is it not so?”

¹⁶ And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “Surely you hate me and do not love me! For you have put forth a riddle to the children of my people and have not explained it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or my mother; and shall I tell it to you?”

¹⁷ Then Samson’s wife wept before him for seven days, while their feast lasted. And when the seventh day came, he explained it to her (because she pressed upon him so much). So, she explained the riddle to the children of her people.

¹⁸ And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before the Sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” Then he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”

¹⁹ And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him. And he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men and plundered them and gave changes of clothing to those who explained the riddle. And his wrath was kindled; and he went up to his father’s house.

²⁰ Then Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

15 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a kid, saying, “I will go in to my wife, into the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in.

² And her father said, “I thought that you had hated her; therefore, I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Please take her instead of the other.’

³ Then Samson said to them, “Now I am blameless regarding the Philistines, if I do them displeasure.”

⁴ And Samson went out and took three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned them tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst, between two tails.

⁵ And when he had set the brands on fire, he sent them out into the standing grain of the Philistines and burnt up both the ricks and the standing grain, with the vineyards and olives.

⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife and given her to his companion.” Then the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with fire.

⁷ And Samson said to them, “Though you have done this, I will still be avenged of you; and then I will cease.”

⁸ So he struck them, hip and thigh, with a mighty plague. Then he went and dwelt in the top of the rock, Etam.

⁹ Then the Philistines came up and camped in Judah and were spread out in Lehi.

¹⁰ And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up to us? And they answered, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”

¹¹ Then, three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock, Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? Why, then, have you done this to us?” And he answered them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

¹² Again they said to him, “We have come to bind you and to deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not fall upon me yourselves.”

¹³ And they answered him, saying, “No. We will bind you and deliver you into their hand, but we will not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted at him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him; and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire. For the bands loosed from his hands.

¹⁵ And he found a new jawbone of a donkey and put forth his hands and caught it and killed a thousand men with it.

¹⁶ Then Samson said, “With the jaw of a donkey, are heaps upon heaps! With the jaw of a donkey, I have killed a thousand men!”

¹⁷ And when he had stopped speaking, he cast away the jawbone from his hand, and called that place, Ramath Lehi.

¹⁸ And he was very thirsty, and called on the LORD, and said, “You have given this great deliverance into the hand of your servant. And now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

¹⁹ Then God broke the cheek tooth that was in the jaw; and water came out from there. And when he had drunk, his spirit returned, and he was revived. Therefore, its name is called, En Hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

²⁰ And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

16 Then Samson went to Gaza, and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

² And it was told to the Gazites, “Samson has come here.” And they went around and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all night, saying, “Wait until the early morning and we shall kill him.”

³ And Samson slept until midnight and arose at midnight and took the doors of the gates of the city and the two posts and lifted them away, with the bars, and put them upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

⁴ And after this, he loved a woman by the river of Sorek, whose name was Delilah,

⁵ to whom came the princes of the Philistines. And they said to her, “Entice him and see wherein his great strength lies, and by what means we may overcome him, so that we may bind him and punish him. And every one of us shall give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

⁶ And Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, please, wherein your great strength lies, and with what you might be bound, to do you harm.”

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

⁸ And the princes of the Philistines brought her seven green cords that were not dry, and she bound him with them.

⁹ And she had men lying in wait with her in the chamber. Then she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords, as a thread of yarn is broken when it feels fire. So, his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Afterward, Delilah said to Samson, “See, you have mocked me and told me lies. I ask you now, please tell me with what you might be bound.

¹¹ Then he answered her, “If they bind me with new ropes that never were used, then shall I be weak and be as another man.”

¹² Delilah, therefore, took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men lay in wait in the chamber, and he broke them from his arms, as a thread.

¹³ Afterward Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have beguiled me, and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the threads of the woof.

¹⁴ And she fastened it with a pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke out of his sleep and went away with the pin of the web and the woof.

¹⁵ Again, she 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 wherein your great strength lies.”

¹⁶ And because she pressed him with her words continually, and pestered him, his soul was pained to the death.

¹⁷ Therefore, he told her all his heart and said to her, “There has never come a razor upon my head; for I am a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. Therefore, if I am shaved, my strength will go from me and I shall be weak and be like all men.”

¹⁸ And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent, and called for the princes of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once again; for he has shown me all his heart.” Then the princes of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.

¹⁹ And she made him sleep upon her knees. And she called a man and made him shave off the seven locks of his head. And she began to subdue him; for his strength had gone from him.

²⁰ Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke out of his sleep, and thought, “I will go out now, as at other times, and shake myself.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

²¹ Therefore, the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with chains. And he was a grinder in the prison house.

²² And the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved.

²³ Then, the princes of the Philistines gathered themselves 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 hands!”

²⁴ Also when 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 killed many of us, into our hands!”

²⁵ And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, so that he may perform for us!” So, they called Samson out of the prison house. And he was a laughingstock to them. And they set him between the pillars.

²⁶ Then, Samson said to the servant who led him by the hand, “Lead me, so that I may touch the pillars that the house stands upon, and so that I may lean on them.”

²⁷ Now, the house was full of men and women. And all the princes of the Philistines were there. Also, there were about three thousand men and women on the roof who watched while Samson performed.

²⁸ Then, Samson called to the LORD, and said, “O Lord GOD! Think upon me, I pray! O God, I beg You, strengthen me just this one time, so that I may, at once, be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes!”

²⁹ And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and upon which it was held up, one on his right and the other on his left.

³⁰ Then Samson said, “Let me lose my life with the Philistines!” And he flexed with all his might; and the house fell upon the princes and upon all the people who were inside. So, the dead which he killed at his death, were more than those whom he had killed in his life.

³¹ Then, his brethren 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 sepulcher of Manoah, his father. Now, he had judged Israel for twenty years.