Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 28

My Rock

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By David.

Protect Me From the Wicked

Punish the Wicked

Then I Will Praise You

16 One time Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went to her. ² The people of Gaza were told, “Samson has come here.” So they surrounded the town and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate, but they relaxed during the night, saying, “Let’s wait for the light of morning. Then we will kill him.”

³ But Samson slept only until midnight. He got up in the middle of the night, grabbed the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, pulled them up crossbar and all, set them on his shoulders, and took them up to the top of the hill opposite Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

⁴ Sometime after that, Samson fell in love with a woman from the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The serens^[a] of the Philistines approached her and said, “Persuade him to reveal where his great strength comes from and how we may overpower him, tie him up, and humiliate him. Each of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”^[b]

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what the source of your great strength is, and how you can be tied up in order to humiliate you.”

⁷ Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me up with seven new bowstrings that have not yet been dried,^[c] I will become weak and be like any other man.”

⁸ So the serens of the Philistines brought her seven new bowstrings that had not yet been dried, and she tied him up with them. ⁹ She had men hiding in the room waiting to ambush Samson, and she said to him, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a flax thread that was scorched when brought near fire. So the source of his strength was not revealed.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look! You made a fool of me and told me lies. Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”

¹¹ Samson answered her, “Actually, if anyone ties me up with new ropes that have never been used for work, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them. Then she said to him, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” There were men hiding in the room waiting to ambush Samson, but he tore the ropes off his arms as if they were thread.

¹³ Delilah said to Samson, “So far you have made a fool of me and told me lies. Tell me how you may be tied up!”

So he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my hair into the fabric of a loom ⎣and fasten them with a pin, I will be as weak as any other man.”

After she had waited for him to fall asleep, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them in the fabric of a loom.⎦^{[d] 14} She fastened them with the pin and said to him, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But Samson woke up from his sleep and pulled out the pin from the loom along with the fabric.

¹⁵ She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? This makes three times you have made a fool of me, and you have not told me where your great strength comes from.” ¹⁶ This was how she tormented him with her words day after day and nagged him until he was sick to death of it.

¹⁷ Finally he told her everything in his heart. He said to her, “A razor has never touched my head, because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from the womb of my mother. If I am ever shaved, my strength will desert me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he told her everything in his heart, she sent for the serens of the Philistines, saying, “Come back one more time, for he has poured out his heart to me.”

The serens of the Philistines came up to her and brought the silver in their hands. ¹⁹ Delilah let Samson fall asleep on her lap. Then she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head. She began his humiliation, because his strength had left him. ²⁰ She said, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as I have time after time, and I will shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the Lord had left him.

²¹ The Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, and restrained him with bronze shackles. He had to grind grain in the prison.

²² But the hair on his head began to grow after it had been shaved.

¹⁵ Some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, and others out of good will. ¹⁶ The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am placed here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking they can cause trouble for me while I am in chains. ¹⁸ What does it matter? Only this, that in every way, whether for outward appearance or for the truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.

To Live Is Christ, to Die Is Gain

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹ because I know that this will turn out for my deliverance, through your prayer and the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. ²⁰ This matches my earnest expectation and hope that I will in no way be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, so even now, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ Yes, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.