Samson said to them, “This time, when I do mischief to the Philistines, I will be without blame.”

When he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and burned up the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

Then the Philistines asked, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken Samson’s wife and given her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father.

Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi.

Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then have you done to us?” He replied, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” Samson answered them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not attack me.”

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him, and the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him, and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not dried out, and she bound him with them.

While men were lying in wait in an inner chamber, she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” (The men lying in wait were in an inner chamber.) But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web and made them tight with the pin. Then she 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.

When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.

Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he ground at the mill in the prison.

Samson’s Death

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”

Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women who looked on while Samson performed.

Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord God, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He strained with all his might, and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life.

And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

The Ark of God Captured

In those days the Philistines mustered for war against Israel, and Israel went out to battle against them; they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek.

The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle was joined, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle.

When the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord put us to rout today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, so that he may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”

When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp,

the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “Gods have come into the camp.” They also said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.