Judges 16:4-22

Modern English Version

⁴ After this Samson loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The Philistine rulers came up to her and said, “Trick him! Find out about how his strength is so great and how we can overcome him, bind him, and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver coins.^[a]”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me how your strength is so great and how you could be bound in order to be subdued.”

⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man.”

⁸ So the Philistine rulers brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ They lay in wait in her inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” Then he split apart the bowstrings like a single thread is split apart at the touch of fire. So the source of his strength did not become known.

¹⁰ Delilah said to Samson, “You have deceived me. You have told me lies. Now, please tell me how you can be bound.”

¹¹ He said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have never been used, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man.”

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them. Then she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” For men were lying in wait, remaining in the room. But he split apart the ropes on his arms like a thread.

¹³ Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me. You have told me lies. Tell how you can be bound.”

He said to her, “If you weave seven locks of my hair into the fabric on the loom and fasten it with the pin, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man.” ¹⁴ So Delilah lulled him to sleep and wove seven locks of his hair into the fabric on the loom. She fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” He awakened from his sleep and tore away from the loom pin and the fabric.

¹⁵ She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me how your strength is so great.” ¹⁶ Every day she nagged him with her words and pleaded with him until he was tired to death.

¹⁷ So he told her all his secrets and said to her, “No razor has touched my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I were shaven, my strength would leave me, and I would become weak and be like all other men.”

¹⁸ Delilah saw that he had told her all his secrets, so she sent for the Philistine rulers, saying, “Come up this time, for he has told me all his secrets.” So the Philistine rulers came up to her and brought the money in their hands. ¹⁹ Delilah lulled Samson to sleep on her knees and called for a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to humiliate him, and his strength left him.

²⁰ She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.”

Then he awakened from his sleep and thought, “I will go out as before and shake myself free of them.” He did not know that the Lord had left him.

²¹ The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza, bound him with bronze chains, and he ground grain in prison. ²² Yet after it had been shaven, the hair on his head began to grow back.