Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This is a song that David wrote.

God answers prayer

Samson visits Gaza

16 One day, Samson went to Gaza. He met a prostitute there and he slept with her. ² The people of Gaza heard that Samson was in their city. The men met together and they waited for Samson to leave. They hid themselves all night at the gate of the city. They waited there quietly and they thought, ‘We will kill him at dawn when he tries to leave the city.’^[a]

³ But Samson only stayed with the woman until the middle of the night. Then he got up and he went to leave through the city gate. He took hold of its doors and the two posts that held them. He pulled them all down together, with the metal bar that locked them. He carried them all in one piece on his shoulders. He left them at the top of the hill near Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

⁴ Some time later, Samson met a woman who was called Delilah. She lived in Sorek valley. Samson loved her. ⁵ The rulers of the Philistines went to visit Delilah. They said to her, ‘Do something clever to discover what makes Samson so strong. We want to find a way to take hold of him and tie him up. If you do that, we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.’

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me what makes you so strong. How could someone tie you up so that you become helpless?’

⁷ Samson replied, ‘Someone would have to use seven new strings for bows. The strings must not have become dry. If they use those strings to tie me up, I will become weak, like other men.’

⁸ So the Philistine rulers gave Delilah seven new strings for bows. She used them to tie Samson up while he was asleep. ⁹ Some Philistine men hid in a room of her house. Then she shouted, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here!’ But he broke the seven strings very easily. They were like thin cotton that a fire burns. So they did not discover the secret about his strength.

¹⁰ Delilah said to Samson, ‘You have deceived me as if I was a fool! Tell me the truth! How can someone really make you weak?’

¹¹ Samson said to her, ‘They would have to use new ropes that no one has used. If they tie me up with those, I will become weak, like other men.’

¹² So Delilah took some new ropes and she tied Samson up with them. Some Philistine men were hiding in the room, as they did before. Then she shouted, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here!’ But he broke the ropes off his arms, as if they were thin string.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, ‘You have deceived me again as if I was a fool. Now you must tell me the truth. Tell me how someone can make you weak.’

Samson replied, ‘You see that my long hair is tied in seven tails. You must tie them into the cloth that is on the loom. Fix them there very strongly. If you do that, I will become weak, like other men.’ ¹⁴ Delilah did this while Samson was asleep. She took the seven tails of his hair and she tied them into the cloth on the loom. She fixed them with a strong peg. Then she shouted, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here!’ He woke up and he pulled out the peg. He tore his hair away from the cloth on the loom so that he was free.^[b]

¹⁵ Then Delilah said to him, ‘I realize that you do not really love me, because you will not tell me your secret. You have deceived me three times, as if I was a fool. You have refused to tell me what makes you so strong.’ ¹⁶ She continued to say the same thing to Samson many times. Her words made Samson very upset. He felt that he wanted to die.

¹⁷ Finally, Samson told her his secret. He said to her, ‘No one has ever cut my hair. Even before I was born, I belonged to God as a Nazirite. If someone cuts off my hair, I would have no more strength. I would become as weak as any other man.’

¹⁸ Delilah realized that Samson had told her the truth. So she sent a message to the rulers of the Philistines. She told them, ‘Samson has now told me his secret. So come back once more.’ So the Philistine rulers went to visit Delilah again. They took their pieces of silver with them. ¹⁹ Delilah made Samson sleep with his head on her knees. She called a man to come and he cut off the seven tails of Samson's hair. This made Samson helpless, so that he had no more strength.

²⁰ Then Delilah shouted, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here!’ He woke up and he thought, ‘I will make myself free as I have always done before.’ But he did not realize that the Lord had gone away from him.

²¹ The Philistines took hold of Samson. They cut out his eyes. They tied him up with bronze chains. They made him do hard work as their prisoner. He had to push a heavy stone to make grain into flour.

²² But after they had cut off Samson's hair, it began to grow again.

¹⁵ It is true that some of these Christians are jealous of me. They want to show that they are better than me. That is why they tell people the message about Christ. But other Christians speak about Christ because they want to help me. ¹⁶ They tell people about him because they love me. They know that God has put me here in this prison. And he wants me to show people that the good news is true. ¹⁷ Those other people speak about Christ because they want to seem important. They do not really want to help people. They just want to cause trouble for me while I am here in this prison. ¹⁸ But it does not matter to me! All of them are telling people about Christ. That is the most important thing. Whether they speak because of wrong reasons or because of right reasons, they are speaking the message about Christ! Because of that, I am happy.

Yes, I will continue to be happy. ¹⁹ You are praying for me and Jesus Christ's Spirit is helping me. So I know that what has happened to me will have a good result. Yes, God will rescue me. ²⁰ I never want to do anything that will cause me to be ashamed. I hope very much that I will never do that. I want to be brave now, as I always have been. In the way that I live, I want to show that Christ is very great. I want to do that if I continue to live. And I want to do that if I die.

²¹ Christ is everything that I live for. If I die, that will be even better for me.