Samson and Delilah

16 One day Samson^(A) went to Gaza,^(B) where he saw a prostitute.^(C) He went in to spend the night with her. ² The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate.^(D) They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn^(E) we’ll kill him.”

³ But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.^(F)

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love^(G) with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.^{(H) 5} The rulers of the Philistines^(I) went to her and said, “See if you can lure^(J) him into showing you the secret of his great strength^(K) 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.”^(L)

⁶ So Delilah^(M) 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,^(N) she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^(O) 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;^(P) you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”

¹¹ He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes^(Q) 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!”^(R) 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!”^(S) 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,’^(T) when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time^(U) you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.^(V)” ¹⁶ With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

¹⁷ So he told her everything.^(W) “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite^(X) dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines^(Y), “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.^{(Z) 19} After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.^[c] And his strength left him.^(AA)

²⁰ Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”^(AB)

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^(AC)

²¹ Then the Philistines^(AD) seized him, gouged out his eyes^(AE) and took him down to Gaza.^(AF) Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain^(AG) in the prison. ²² But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

²³ Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon^(AH) their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”

²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god,^(AI) saying,

²⁵ While they were in high spirits,^(AK) they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

When they stood him among the pillars, ²⁶ Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof^(AL) were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. ²⁸ Then Samson prayed to the Lord,^(AM) “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge^(AN) on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, ³⁰ Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

³¹ Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah^(AO) his father. He had led^[d](AP) Israel twenty years.^(AQ)

God’s Razor of Judgment

5 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor^(A) to shave^(B) your head and your beard.^(C) Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. ² When the days of your siege come to an end, burn^(D) a third^(E) of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind.^(F) For I will pursue them with drawn sword.^{(G) 3} But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.^{(H) 4} Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire^(I) and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.

⁵ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.^{(J) 6} Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.^(K)

⁷ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even^[a] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.^(L)

⁸ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.^{(M) 9} Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.^{(N) 10} Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents.^(O) I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.^{(P) 11} Therefore as surely as I live,^(Q) declares the Sovereign^(R) Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary^(S) with all your vile images^(T) and detestable practices,^(U) I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.^{(V) 12} A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds^(W) and pursue with drawn sword.^(X)

¹³ “Then my anger will cease and my wrath^(Y) against them will subside, and I will be avenged.^(Z) And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.^(AA)

¹⁴ “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.^{(AB) 15} You will be a reproach^(AC) and a taunt, a warning^(AD) and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke.^(AE) I the Lord have spoken.^{(AF) 16} When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.^{(AG) 17} I will send famine and wild beasts^(AH) against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed^(AI) will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.^(AJ)”

Paul’s Trial Before Felix

24 Five days later the high priest Ananias^(A) went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges^(B) against Paul before the governor.^{(C) 2} When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. ³ Everywhere and in every way, most excellent^(D) Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude. ⁴ But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.

⁵ “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots^(E) among the Jews^(F) all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene^(G) sect^{(H) 6} and even tried to desecrate the temple;^(I) so we seized him. ^{[7] [a] 8} By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁹ The other Jews joined in the accusation,^(J) asserting that these things were true.

¹⁰ When the governor^(K) motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense. ¹¹ You can easily verify that no more than twelve days^(L) ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹² My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple,^(M) or stirring up a crowd^(N) in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³ And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.^{(O) 14} However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors^(P) as a follower of the Way,^(Q) which they call a sect.^(R) I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,^{(S) 15} and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection^(T) of both the righteous and the wicked.^{(U) 16} So I strive always to keep my conscience clear^(V) before God and man.

¹⁷ “After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor^(W) and to present offerings. ¹⁸ I was ceremonially clean^(X) when they found me in the temple courts doing this. There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any disturbance.^{(Y) 19} But there are some Jews from the province of Asia,^(Z) who ought to be here before you and bring charges if they have anything against me.^{(AA) 20} Or these who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin— ²¹ unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”^(AB)

²² Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way,^(AC) adjourned the proceedings. “When Lysias the commander comes,” he said, “I will decide your case.” ²³ He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard^(AD) but to give him some freedom^(AE) and permit his friends to take care of his needs.^(AF)

²⁴ Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.^{(AG) 25} As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control^(AH) and the judgment^(AI) to come, Felix was afraid^(AJ) and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” ²⁶ At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.

²⁷ When two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus,^(AK) but because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews,^(AL) he left Paul in prison.^(AM)