Samson and Delilah

16 Samson went to ^(A)Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. ² The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they ^(B)surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” ³ But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

⁴ After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ And ^(C)the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ^(D)“Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to ^(E)humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” ⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could ^(F)subdue you.”

⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, ^(G)then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” ⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” ¹¹ And he said to her, “If they bind me with ^(H)new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked 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 web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” ¹⁴ So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.^[a] And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

¹⁵ And she said to him, ^(I)“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” ¹⁶ And ^(J)when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. ¹⁷ And he told her all his heart, and said to her, ^(K)“A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought ^(L)the money in their hands. ¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began ^(M)to torment him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that ^(N)the Lord had left him. ²¹ And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. ^(O)And he ground at the mill in the prison. ²² But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

²³ Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to ^(P)Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” ²⁴ And when the people saw him, ^(Q)they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”^{[b] 25} And ^(R)when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶ And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and ^(S)on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, ^(T)please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰ And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. ³¹ Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him ^(U)between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

Paul in Macedonia and Greece

20 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and ^(A)departed for Macedonia. ² When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. ³ There he spent three months, and when ^(B)a plot was made against him by the Jews^[a] as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴ Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, ^(C)Aristarchus and Secundus; and ^(D)Gaius of Derbe, and ^(E)Timothy; and the Asians, ^(F)Tychicus and ^(G)Trophimus. ⁵ These went on ahead and were waiting for ^(H)us at ^(I)Troas, ⁶ but we sailed away from Philippi after ^(J)the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

Eutychus Raised from the Dead

^7 (K)On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together ^(L)to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in ^(M)the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹ And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he ^(N)fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and ^(O)bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, ^(P)“Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ And when Paul had gone up and ^(Q)had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. ¹² And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³ But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. ¹⁵ And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and^[b] the day after that we went to Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening ^(R)to be at Jerusalem, if possible, ^(S)on the day of Pentecost.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷ Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ^(T)the elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them:

^(U)“You yourselves know ^(V)how I lived among you the whole time ^(W)from the first day that I set foot in Asia, ^19 (X)serving the Lord ^(Y)with all humility and with ^(Z)tears and with trials that happened to me through ^(AA)the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I ^(AB)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and ^(AC)teaching you in public and from house to house, ^21 (AD)testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of ^(AE)repentance toward God and of ^(AF)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.^{[c] 22} And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained ^(AG)by^[d] the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(AH)the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that ^(AI)imprisonment and ^(AJ)afflictions await me. ²⁴ But ^(AK)I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only ^(AL)I may finish my course and ^(AM)the ministry ^(AN)that I received from the Lord Jesus, ^(AO)to testify to ^(AP)the gospel of ^(AQ)the grace of God. ²⁵ And now, behold, ^(AR)I know that none of you among whom I have gone about ^(AS)proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore ^(AT)I testify to you this day that ^(AU)I am innocent of the blood of all, ²⁷ for ^(AV)I did not shrink from declaring to you ^(AW)the whole counsel of God. ^28 (AX)Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all ^(AY)the flock, in which ^(AZ)the Holy Spirit has made you ^(BA)overseers, ^(BB)to care for ^(BC)the church of God,^[e] which he ^(BD)obtained ^(BE)with his own blood.^{[f] 29} I ^(BF)know that after my departure ^(BG)fierce wolves will come in among you, ^(BH)not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and ^(BI)from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore ^(BJ)be alert, remembering that ^(BK)for three years I did not cease night or day ^(BL)to admonish every one ^(BM)with tears. ³² And now ^(BN)I commend you to God and to ^(BO)the word of his grace, which is able to ^(BP)build you up and to give you ^(BQ)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 (BR)I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. ^34 (BS)You yourselves know that ^(BT)these hands ministered to my necessities and ^(BU)to those who were with me. ³⁵ In all things ^(BV)I have shown you that ^(BW)by working hard in this way we must ^(BX)help the weak and ^(BY)remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed ^(BZ)to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ And when he had said these things, ^(CA)he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And ^(CB)there was much weeping on the part of all; ^(CC)they embraced Paul and ^(CD)kissed him, ³⁸ being sorrowful most of all because of ^(CE)the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And ^(CF)they accompanied him to the ship.