⁷ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”^(A)

⁸ But he refused.^(B) “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.^{(C) 9} No one is greater in this house than I am.^(D) My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”^(E)

⁵ The rulers of the Philistines^(A) went to her and said, “See if you can lure^(B) him into showing you the secret of his great strength^(C) 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.”^(D)

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

⁷ Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

⁸ Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. ⁹ With men hidden in the room,^(F) she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^(G) But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me;^(H) you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”

¹¹ He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes^(I) that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^(J) But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

¹³ Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”

He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric ¹⁴ and^[b] tightened it with the pin.

Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^(K) He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

¹⁵ Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’^(L) when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time^(M) you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.^(N)”

Adultery

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’^{[a](A) 28} But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.^{(B) 29} If your right eye causes you to stumble,^(C) gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble,^(D) cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

⁹ We also know that the law is made not for the righteous^(A) but for lawbreakers and rebels,^(B) the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine^{(C) 11} that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.^(D)