Historical
Samson and Delilah
16 Then Samson went to (A)Gaza and saw a harlot there and went in to her. 2 And it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” so they (B)surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and seized the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and brought them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.
4 Now it happened afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah. 5 And the (C)lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “(D)Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and [a]how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength is and [b]how you may be bound to afflict you.” 7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had men lying in wait, sitting in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the cords as a string of tinder snaps when it [c]touches fire. So his strength was still not known.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me [d]how you may be bound.” 11 And he said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes [e]which have not been used for work, then I will 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!” Now the men lying in wait were sitting in the inner room. But he snapped [f]the ropes from his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me [g]how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web [h][and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his [i]hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.
15 Then she said to him, “(E)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 where your great strength is.” 16 Now it happened when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was [j]annoyed to death. 17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a (F)Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like every other man.”
18 And Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, so she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the silver in their hands. 19 Then she made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to afflict 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 (G)Yahweh had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.
23 Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to (H)Dagon their god and to be glad; and they said,
“Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”
24 Then the people saw him and (I)praised their god, for they said,
“Our god has given our enemy into our hands,
Even the destroyer of our country,
Who has slain many of us.”
25 So it happened when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he [k]entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house is established, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.
Samson’s Revenge
28 (J)Then Samson called to Yahweh and said, “O Lord Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once (K)be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house was established and supported himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with his strength so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death by his death were more than those whom he put to death in his life. 31 Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of Manoah his father. (L)Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.
Micah’s Idolatry
17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and spoke of it [l]in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; it was I who took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by Yahweh.” 3 And he then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly set apart the silver from my hand as holy to Yahweh for my son (M)to make a graven image and a molten image; so now I will return [m]them to you.” 4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith. And he made [n]them into a graven image and a molten image, and [o]they were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a [p](N)shrine, and he made an (O)ephod and [q](P)household idols and [r]ordained one of his sons, (Q)and he became his priest. 6 In those days (R)there was no king in Israel; (S)every man did what was right in his own eyes.
7 And there was a young man from (T)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was sojourning there. 8 Then the man went from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to sojourn wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the (U)hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn wherever I may find a place.” 10 Micah then said to him, “Remain with me and be (V)a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was willing to remain with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 So Micah [s]ordained the Levite, and the young man (W)became his priest and [t]lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will prosper me because I have a Levite as priest.”
Danites Seek an Inheritance
18 (X)In those days there was no king of Israel; and (Y)in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day the land among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them as an inheritance. 2 So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, [u]men of valor from (Z)Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they came to (AA)the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 They were near the house of Micah, and they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite. So they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” 4 And he said to them, “Thus and so has Micah done to me, and he has hired me, and (AB)I have become his priest.” 5 And they said to him, “Ask of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.” 6 So the priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going is before Yahweh.”
7 Then the five men went forth and came to (AC)Laish and saw the people who were in it living in security, after the [v]manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no [w]oppressive conqueror dishonoring them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8 So they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” 9 And they said, “Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you be silent? Do not delay to go, to enter, to possess the land. 10 When you enter, you will come to a secure people and a spacious land; for God has given it into your hand, (AD)a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”
11 Then from the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, 600 men armed with weapons of war set out. 12 And they went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place [x](AE)Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is [y]west of Kiriath-jearim. 13 Then they passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.
Danites Take Micah’s Idols
14 And the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses (AF)an ephod and [z]household idols and a graven image and a molten image? So now, know what you should do.” 15 Then they turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. 16 Now the 600 men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, were standing by the entrance of the gate. 17 Then the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there, and took (AG)the graven image and the ephod and household idols and the molten image. And the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. 18 Now these had entered into Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image. Then the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 And they said to him, “Be silent; (AH)put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be to us (AI)a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” 20 And the priest’s heart was merry, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image and entered among the people.
21 Then they turned and went away and put the little ones and the livestock and the valuables in front of them. 22 They had gone some distance from the house of Micah, and the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were summoned and then overtook the sons of Dan. 23 And they called out to the sons of Dan, who turned [aa]around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you were summoned together?” 24 And he said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what do I have besides? So how can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” 25 Then the sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest men, bitter of soul, fall upon you and you [ab]lose your life, with the lives of your household.” 26 So the sons of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.
27 Now they took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him, and they came to (AJ)Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire. 28 And there was no one to deliver them because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley which is near (AK)Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 (AL)And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish. 30 Then the sons of Dan set up for themselves (AM)the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of (AN)Gershom, the son of [ac]Moses, (AO)he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the exile of the land. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the (AP)house of God was at Shiloh.
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