Judges 16:4-21

Living Bible

⁴ Later on he fell in love with a girl named Delilah over in the valley of Sorek. ⁵ The five heads of the Philistine nation went personally to her and demanded that she find out from Samson what made him so strong, so that they would know how to overpower and subdue him and put him in chains.

“Each of us will give you a thousand dollars for this job,” they promised.

⁶ So Delilah begged Samson to tell her his secret. “Please tell me, Samson, why you are so strong,” she pleaded. “I don’t think anyone could ever capture you!”

⁷ “Well,” Samson replied, “if I were tied with seven raw-leather bowstrings, I would become as weak as anyone else.”

⁸ So they brought her the seven bowstrings, and while he slept^[a] she tied him with them. ⁹ Some men were hiding in the next room, so as soon as she had tied him up she exclaimed, “Samson! The Philistines are here!”

Then he snapped the bowstrings like cotton thread,^[b] and so his secret was not discovered.

¹⁰ Afterward Delilah said to him, “You are making fun of me! You told me a lie! Please tell me how you can be captured!”

¹¹ “Well,” he said, “if I am tied with brand new ropes which have never been used, I will be as weak as other men.”

¹² So that time, as he slept,^[c] Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. The men were hiding in the next room, as before. Again Delilah exclaimed, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”

But he broke the ropes from his arms like spiderwebs!

¹³ “You have mocked me again and told me more lies!” Delilah complained. “Now tell me how you can really be captured.”

“Well,” he said, “if you weave my hair into your loom . . . !”

¹⁴ So while he slept, she did just that and then screamed, “The Philistines have come, Samson!” And he woke up and yanked his hair away, breaking the loom.

¹⁵ “How can you say you love me when you don’t confide in me?” she whined. “You’ve made fun of me three times now, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong!”

^16-17 She nagged at him every day until he couldn’t stand it any longer and finally told her his secret.

“My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I’ve been a Nazirite to God since before my birth. If my hair were cut, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.”

¹⁸ Delilah realized that he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the five Philistine leaders.

“Come just this once more,” she said, “for this time he has told me everything.”

So they brought the money with them. ¹⁹ She lulled him to sleep with his head in her lap, and they brought in a barber and cut off his hair. Delilah began to hit him, but she could see that his strength was leaving him.

²⁰ Then she screamed, “The Philistines are here to capture you, Samson!” And he woke up and thought, “I will do as before; I’ll just shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize that the Lord had left him. ²¹ So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes and took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and made to grind grain in the prison.